In this episode we discuss:

• Winner of Knives of Artemis costume code: Flick Guy
• Free character transfers until the end of January:
  • Starts:Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 8:59 a.m. PST (11:59 a.m. EST)
  • Ends: Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. PST (2:59 a.m. EST)
  • These are moves, not copies. You can move a character back with the same restrictions and caveats
  • You cannot transfer characters between different accounts — same account only
  • You can do up to 6 transfers a week. This could be anything from 1 character transferred 6 times back and forth between 2 servers, or could be 6 characters to different servers in any combination
  • Cannot swap between US & European servers
  • Lose Supergroup affiliation, prestige, and items
  • Lose server friends list, but keep global list
  • Leveling pacts will be broken
  • Keep auction house items
  • You may lose your character name if it is already taken on the new server. No warning is given, but you are given a free rename token. If you already have one character on the destination server you can do a name lookup check at the login screen.
  • If you have a one or two letter/number name, you will loose it forever. The servers currently only allow three letter/number names.
  • Character transfer tutorial
• City of Heroes® Super Booster IV: Martial Arts
  • This Super Booster channels your chi while combining the perfect balance of style and power.
  • Martial Arts themed costume set:
    • The Martial Arts themed male, female and huge costume parts include robes, shoulders, legs, gloves, footwear, mask, belt and head pieces, as well as new hair styles, chest emblems, and weapons. Male and huge characters also have the option to select the top knot hairstyle, while females will have the option for crazy braided buns!
  • Character Emotes:
    • /em bringit
    • /em pushup
  • Costume Change Emotes:
    • Smoke Bomb
    • Ninja Leap
  • Ninja Run power:
    • Dash through the city with the agility of a ninja! Use Ninja Run to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies as you increase your run speed and leaping abilities, and the best part? It doesn’t use one of your power selections!
  • This purchase enables these features for all characters on your game account from level 1. Ninja Run power is available at level 4. Costume change emotes* do require that you unlock at least one additional costume slot.

  Promo: The Empress Sword by Paulette Jaxton

Too long in the making, we are proud to bring you our Transcendence Trial tutorial. At the start of the episode Viv breaks down the basics of the Trans Trial and how we go about running it. Then we actually run through it “live” with a full team.

Sorry, no news or fluff. The contest winner will be announced in a special drop this week.

The video is available in a few bunch of different formats, listed below:

• High quality iPod formatted download (428 Megabytes, 320×240)
• High quality MPeg4 download (2.2 Gigabytes, 720×480)
• Medium quality MPeg4 download (343 Megabytes, 720×480)
• Medium quality Ogg Theora download (363 Megabytes, 720×480)
• Medium quality Flash streamed:

We’d like to thank the team members who helped us run the trial:

• Will Hudson and Tai Kitty, Heroes of the first order
• Biscuit the Mighty of the Kulture Kast
• Heather Welliver and Marc Bailey of Grailwolf’s Geek Life
• Zigdon
• our son, M.

Items mentioned in the episode:

• Gleepwurp’s Task Force and Trial Guide
• Paragon Wiki
• Promo: J.C. Hutchin’s 7th Son in print!

Since video files are so big we didn’t want to clog up your podcast feed with one. Head over to the video post and you can download it in a range of formats or stream it straight from the post!

Too long in the making, we are proud to bring you our Transcendence Trial tutorial. At the start of the episode Viv breaks down the basics of the Trans Trial and how we go about running it. Then we actually run through it “live” with a full team.

Sorry, no news or fluff. Contest winner will be announced in a special audio drop this week.

We’d like to thank the team members who helped us run the trial:

• Will Hudson and Tai Kitty, Heroes of the first order
• Biscuit the Mighty of the Kulture Kast
• Heather Welliver and Marc Bailey of Grailwolf’s Geek Life
• Zigdon
• our son, M.

Items mentioned in the episode:

• Gleepwurp’s Task Force and Trial Guide
• Paragon Wiki
• Promo: J.C. Hutchin’s 7th Son in print!

This discussion is more about super heroes in various media than City of Heroes, but we do manage to talk about many features and aspects of the game.

Two warnings:

1. Tthere are bad words. We drop the F Bomb a few times and discuss.. um.. anatomy.
2. There are spoilers. We discuss all aspects of many different movie/book/comic properties and without pausing to give warnings, so be prepared to hit pause/fast forward if you hear a topic that you don’t want to get spoiled on

During our conversation we mention:

• Kulture Kast
• Watchmen
• Erotica Ala Carte
• Geek Radio Daily
• BSG
• El Cazador
• GURPS
• Green Lantern Mashup
• Transformers vs. Terminator Mashup
• Buffy/Twilight Mashup
• Grant Baciocco’s Christian Bale response
• Family Guy Christian Bale response
• Dance techno Christian Bale remix
• Apple Geeks
• J.C. Hutchins
• Murder At Avedon Hill
• Promo: Down From Ten

Tee Morris links:

• http://www.allatwitterbook.com
• http://www.birdhouserules.com
• http://www.teemorris.com
• http://www.imaginethatstudios.com

In this episode we discuss:

• We are Parsec Finalists again this year !!!
• We are going to Dragon Con!
• We’ll be dropping a special episode with Tee Morris into the feed soon, discussing movies from comic books
• Paragon Studios team hits Twitter
  • @Positron_CoH
  • @Niviene_CoH
  • @MelissaBianco (WarWitch)
  • @CoH_OCR (the community relations team)
  • Honorable mentions include: @plaync, @thetitannetwork
  • Of course, you can follow us too as: @choochus, and @vividmuse
• Paragon Studios at Comic Con
• Issue 15: Anniversary Releases info from forums
• Issue 15: Anniversary Releases info from news
• Double XP Save The Date
• Issue 16: Power Spectrum
• Migration of the message boards part 1 and part 2
• Purchase new MA story slots
• Issue 15: Anniversary Full Release Notes (cwned!)
• Promo: Mur Lafferty’s WAR
  

Oh and feel free to include it in your own show if you’re a podcaster

Head over there for details on where we’ll be during the con as well as the unfolding details of the New Media Costume Party that we’ll be hosting!

Here’s the linkage:

• Super Booster II: Magic Pack Now on Sale
• i14 Architect – Release Notes – 4/8/09
• Mission Architect Video and Guide!
• Issue 14 Follow-Up From Positron!
• Justice Girls Summer Heat – Virtue – May 9 – 8-11pm Eastern
• Bumper: Cheyenne Wright
• Promo: The Seanachai

In this episode we discuss:

• We’re cutting back, but we’re still Yay! New Casting
• A word regarding outside solicitations
• Announcing: New SG/VG leadership rank for Issue 14
• Introducing player proup: City of Comic Creators!
• Weekend update!
• Issue #14: Architect coming to live servers soon Wednesday, April 8 !!!
• LT makes an appearance to give his opinions on the shields powers and character creator options
• Bored at work Haiku
• Nerd Girl Deathmatch. A Short Play in One Act. (Inspired by actual events)
• Promo: Balticon 43 – May 22 – 25, 2009. We totally forgot to talk about it, but we’ll be there and will be speaking on a few panels!

By the way, the pie was epic WIN!

The episode ended up being so long that I’ve split it into two files, however releasing them at the same time. Hopefully you get them in the right order. Depending on your podcatcher and mp3 player, it may roll right through. For some (most?) people part A will end at around an hour and 30 minutes, then you’ll have to pick part B from the playlist and keep on rolling.

In this episode we discuss:

• New Issue 14 Mission Architect info revealed
• Little Big Planet
• Introducing the Paragon Journals
• Issue 14 Closed Beta Starts Today!
• We got a puppy!
• Thottbot
• Guild Helper
• Guild Portal (which is what I actually meant on the cast, not Guild Helper )
• Conan thing at around 15 mins
• Wine Is Not an Emulator
• The Seanachai
• Daddy Digest
• Crucial.com
• Sky Rocket Shatner love
• This link shows which Macs have which have Intel GMA’s
• This link includes a list of COX supported video cards,
• Clear Skys
• Da Mastermind said “OH NOES!! – You guys have competition“
• Sky Rocket Peapod costume
• Promo: Antithesis Podcast

The episode ended up being so long that I’ve split it into two files, however releasing them at the same time. Hopefully you get them in the right order. Depending on your podcatcher and mp3 player, it may roll right through. For some (most?) people part A will end at around an hour and 30 minutes, then you’ll have to pick part B from the playlist and keep on rolling.

In this episode we discuss:

• New Issue 14 Mission Architect info revealed
• Little Big Planet
• Introducing the Paragon Journals
• Issue 14 Closed Beta Starts Today!
• We got a puppy!
• Thottbot
• Guild Helper
• Guild Portal (which is what I actually meant on the cast, not Guild Helper )
• Conan thing at around 15 mins
• Wine Is Not an Emulator
• The Seanachai
• Daddy Digest
• Crucial.com
•  Sky Rocket Shatner love
• This link shows which Macs have which have Intel GMA’s
• This link includes a list of COX supported video cards,
• Clear Skys
• Da Mastermind said “OH NOES!! – You guys have competition“
• Sky Rocket Peapod costume
• Promo: Antithesis Podcast

Linkage:

• Details About Mac Version & Perks
• New Video Ads for Mac!
• Massively.com gives City of Heroes 2008 Award!!
• URGENT! – Do NOT Use Witch Leather Top
• City of Heroes Featured on Apple Games!
• Live Patch — 1.22.09
• Announcing 57 & 60 Month Veteran Rewards!
• Mur Lafferty’s favorite character
• Promo:Movie Mantras

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

In this episode we disuss:

• Video of Issue 13 Powersets on MMORPG.com
• Castle Comments on Issue 13 Powersets on Massively
• Matt Miller talks with Gamezone.com about Issue 13
• Issue 13 New Missions: Ten Ton Hammer Exclusive!
• Battle of Good vs. Evil Coming to the Mac!
• Existing Player Exclusive: Closed Beta Mac Test
• Issue 13 Enters Open Beta!
• No Heroics
• Promo: The Seanachai
• Bumper: Calls for Cthulhu

Click through for the full IO Set Feature that covers Accuracy bonuses, Damage bonuses, boosting Endurance, boosting Health, and as an odd addition, set IOs that offer Debt Protection

As usual, I order the sets from lowest number of pieces required to highest. As an additional reminder, the full text of this will be in the show notes, as I won’t be reading every single set name — only the ones that give the biggest bonuses.

ACCURACY:
Accuracy is an attribute that pretty much everyone understands, even if they don’t have the actual to-hit calculation memorized. As a frame of reference, an even-level accuracy SO grants +33% benefit.

Except for two of the following sets, to get any accuracy bonuses requires 4 pieces of an IO set in a power, which makes +accuracy more expensive than the attributes earlier discussed, since the more pieces you need for a set, the more likely you will run into set piece shortages or high prices for the recipe or salvage.

Accuracy bonus sets requiring only 2 IOs:
Defense Debuff: Exploited Vulnerability +3% accuracy [ 2 pieces
required out of 3 available.]

Accuracy bonus sets requiring only 3 IOs:
To Hit Debuff: Deflated Ego +3 % acc [ 3 out of  3 required, the full set. ]

Accuracy bonus sets requiring 4 IOs:
Melee:Crushing Impact +7% acc
PBAOE:Scirocco’s Dervish 9+% acc
Ranged:Thunderstrike +7% acc
Target AOE:Positron’s Blast +9% acc
Sniper:Exploit Weakness +3% acc
Sniper:Calibrated Accuracy +5% acc
Defense:Serendipity +3% acc
Defense:Luck of the Gambler +9% acc
Confuse:Perplex +5% acc
Slow:Pacing of the Turtle +9% acc
Immob:Trap fo the Hunter +9% acc
Hold:Neuronic Shutdown +7% acc
Fear:Nightmare +5% acc
Fear:Glimpse of the Abyss +9% acc
To Hit Buff:Adjusted Targetting +9% acc
Defense Debuff:Undermined Defense +7% acc

The following require 4 IOs, and are the unique level 50 purple sets, therefore very expensive and can’t be used more than once per character.
Melee: Hecatomb +15% acc
PBAOE: Armaggedon  +15% acc
Target AOE: Ragnarok +15% acc
Sleep: Fortunata Hypnosis +15% acc
Immob: Gravitational Anchor +15% acc
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint +15% acc
Stun: Absolute Amazement +15% acc
The good news, even though you have to invest 4 slots, there are enough power groups that accept +accuracy bonus set IOs and the percentages are in general high enough that getting +20% accuracy on all attacks relatively easy. I wouldn’t recommend changing your slotting strategy to stop slotting Accuracy SOs or IOs and compensating with bonuses (especially since bonuses aren’t guaranteed to be there if you exemplar down), but having +accuracy in general is nice, especially when fighting enemies that debuff your overall chance to hit, like spectrals and vampyrs.

DAMAGE:
Okay, everyone loves damage. Well, all the cool kids do. And damage bonuses are pretty handily available, in the form of inspirations, inherents, buffs, etc. so people may not be sweating using IOs to pump up the damage. But it is nice to break the Enhancement Diversification dampeners on damage, or beef up the damage of a power that is sacrificing a damage SO or IO for some other effect (which is not unreasonable with high end IOs, which get close to ED norms with only 2 IOs instead of 3 SOs.)

Damage bonus sets requiring 2 IOs
Knockback:Explosive Strike  +1.5% dam [needs two of the three available]
To Hit Buff: Adjusted Targetting +2% dam
To Hit Debuff: Deflated Ego +1.5% dam [needs 2 of 3 ]
To Hit Debuff: Dampened Spirits +2% dam
Defense Debuff: Achilles Heel +1.5% dam  [2/3]
Defense Debuff:Undermined Defenses  +2% dam

Damage bonus sets requiring 3 IOs
To Hit Buff: Encouraged Accuracy  +1.5% dam [needs 3/3, complete set]

Damage bonus sets requiring 4 IOs
Melee:Pounding Slugfest  +2% dam [ need 4 of 4 ]
Melee:Touch of Death  +2.5% dam
Melee:Makos Bite  +3% dam
PBAOE:Cleaving Blow  +1% dam
Ranged:Tempest  +2% dam    [ need 4 of 4 ]
Ranged:Devastation  +3% dam
Sniper:Extreme Measures  +2% dam
Sniper:Sting of the Manticore  +3% dam
Defense:Red Fortune  +2% dam
Confuse:Malaise’s Illusions  +2.5% dam
Immob:Rooting Grasp  +1% dam

Purple level 50 sets requiring 4 IOs
Ranged:Apocalypse  +4% dam
Pet:Soulbound Allegiance  +4% dam
Confuse:Coercive Persuasion  +4% dam

Damage  bonus sets requiring 5 IOs:
Knockback: Force Feedback +2.5% dam
End Modification: Efficacy Adaptor  +2.5% dam
End Modification: Performance Shifter +2.5% dam
To Hit Buff: Gaussian’s Synchronized Fire Control  +2.5% dam
To Hit Debuff: Dark Watcher’s Despair +2% dam
Defense Debuff: Touch of Lady Grey +2% dam

It doesn’t seem like you can rack up huge +damage %, but +10-15% damage seems pretty easy to reach.

ENDURANCE
Endurance is another thing that everyone pretty much learns fast that you must have. Except for regen scrappers. Anyway, the game offers several forms of endurance breaks, and IO set bonuses is another tool to help manage endurance.

Simply, the more Endurance you have not only increases the overall pool of endurance you can use, but also the rate at which it comes back. Two great tastes that taste great together. Or whatever. Enough talk. Action! (Which is  hard to do without Endurance.)

For comparison’s sake, the Atlas Medallion and Portal Jockey Accolades both offer +5% endurance. Yes, I know you won’t see % in the descriptions (at least I think you won’t.) To talk more about this would get into a long talk on changes in Endurance over the years, and I’m not sure I’m qualified to get all the facts correct here. Entertain me and accept for now that AM and PJ offer +5% endurance for comparison to bonuses below. If I’m wrong, that could be a great seed for a feature on Endurance in general.

Endurance bonus sets requiring 2 IOs
Taunt: Mocking Beratement  +1.8% endurance

Endurance bonus sets requiring 3 IOs
To Hit Debuff: Dampened Spirits + 1.8% End
Defense Debuff: Undermined Defenses + 1.8% End

Endurance bonus sets requiring 4 IOs
Ranged:Entropic Chaos  +2.25% End    [need 4 of 5]
Ranged:Decimation  +2.25% End
Pet:Unquestioning Loyalty  +0.9% End    [need 4 of 4]
Pet:Commanding Presence  +1.35% End    [need 4 of 5]
Resist:Impervium Armor  +2.25% End
Defense:Gift of the Ancients  +1.8% End
Sleep:Call of the Sandman  +2.25% End
Slow:Tempered Readiness  +0.9% End
Hold:Ghost Widows Embrace  +2.25% End

The percentages are not huge, there aren’t a lot of Endurance-contributing sets, and since many bonuses are the same value, you probably can’t wrack up too high a bonus. But, it looks like you could score higher than +5%, which is accolade level.

HEALTH
By my count, there are 56 IO sets that offer +Health. Yes, the percentages are small, but if you want to boost health, you have a lot of options to choose from, a lot in the 3 IO range which could allow all kinds of frankenslotting, and remember, +Health not only == more hit points, but it improves the rate at which you gain hits back.

By way of comparison, the Freedom Phalanx accolade offers +10% Health, Portal Jockey and Task Force Commander each offer +5% to hits.

Health bonus sets requiring 2 IOs:
End Mod:Efficacy Adaptor  +1.13% health
To Hit Debuff:DarkWatcher’s Despair  +1.5% health
Defense Debuff:Touch of Lady Grey  +1.5% health

Health bonus sets requiring 3 IOs:
Melee:Bonesnap  +0.75% health      [ need all 3 of 3]
Melee:Bruising Blow  +0.75% health    [need all 3 of 3]
Melee:Smashing Haymaker  +1.13% health   [need 3 of 4]
Melee:Kinetic Combat  +1.5% health
Melee:Touch of Death  +1.5% health
Melee:Crushing Impact  +1.13% health
Melee:Mako’s Bite  +1.5% health
Ranged:Far Strike  +0.75% health    [need all 3 of 3]
Ranged:Voley Fire  +0.75% health    [need all 3 of 3]
Ranged:Ruin  +1.13% health     [need 3 of 5]
Ranged:Decimation  +1.13% health
Ranged: Devastation +2.25% health
Target AOE:Air Burst  +0.75% health   [need 3 of 4]
Sniper:Extreme Measures  +1.5% health
Pet:Unquestioning Loyalty  +0.75% health    [need 3 of 4]
Pet:Comnanding Presence  +1.13% health   [need 3 of 5]
Pet:Edict of the Master  +1.5% health
Heal:Triage  +0.75% health    [need 3 of 4]
Heal:Regenerative Tissue  +1.5% health    [need 3 of 5]
Heal:Miracle  +1.88% health
Heal:Numina’s Convalescence  +1.88% health
Resist Damage:Steadfast Protection  +1.5% health   [need 3 of 3]
Resist Damage:Impervious Skin  +1.5% health    [need 3 of 5]
Resist Damage:Titanium Coating  +1.5% health
Defense:Karma  +1.5% health    [need 3 of 3]
Defense:Serendipity  +0.75% health
Defense:Luck of the Gambler  +1.13% health
Sleep:Hibernation  +0.75% health    [need 3 of 5]
Sleep:Induced Coma  +0.75% health
Sleep:Call of the Sandman  +1.88% health
Immob:Rooting Grasp  +0.75% health
Immob:Trap of the Hunter  +1.88% health
Hold:Neuronic Shutdown  +1.5% health
Hold:Ghost Widow’s Embrace  +1.88% health
Fear:Horror  +0.75% health
Fear:Glimpse fo the Abyss  +1.88% health
Stun:Razzle Dazzle  +1.5% health
Stun:Stupefy  +1.88% health
Flight:Soaring  +0.75% health
Flight:Freebird  +1.5% health
Leaping:Springfoot  +0.75% health
Leaping:Unbounded Leap  +1.5% health
Run:Quickfoot  +0.75% health
Run:Celerity  +1.5% health
Teleport:Jaunt  +0.75% health
Teleport:Time and Space Manip.  +1.5% health
Knockback:Volley of Velocity  +1.13% health
End Modification:Adrenal Adjustment  +1.13% health
End Modification:Performance Shifter  +1.88% health
To Hit Buff:Gaussian’s Sync. Fire Control  +1.88% health

Purple unique level 50 sets requiring 3 IOs:
Ranged: Apocalypse  +3% health
Pet: Soulbound Allegiance  +3% health
Health bonus sets requiring 5 IOs:
Defense Debuff: Undermined Defenses  +1.5% health

DEBT PROTECTION
No one wants debt (except for debt badgers or people who want to have slower leveling so as to not outpace content) but I’m not sure if people really worry about minimizing potential debt via IO set bonuses. The majority of sets that offer Debt protection require an investment of 4 IOs in a set, which seems steep when I might rather slot something that would increase my chance, even marginally, of not being defeated at all.

Still, here are the sets:

Debt protection bonus sets that require 2 IOs:
Defense:Karma +1.5% debt protection  [ need 2 of 3]
Knockback:Volley of Velocity +1% debt protection  [need 2 of 3]
To Hit Buff:Encouraged Accuracy +1.5% debt protection  [need 2 of 3]

Debt protection bonus sets that require 4 IOs:
Melee:Focussed Smite +1.5% debt protection    [need 4 of 5]
Ranged:Ruin +1% debt protection    [need 4 of 5]
Target AOE:Detonation +1% debt protection
Sniper:Executioners Contract +2.5% debt protection
Pet:Brilliant Leadership +1% debt protection
Resist Damage:Impervious Skin +2% debt protection
Resist Damage:Aegis +2.5% debt protection
Defense:Kismet +1.5% debt protection    [need 4 of 5]
Sleep:Induced Coma +2% debt protection
Immob:Debilitative Action +2% debt protection
Hold:Paralytic +1% debt protection    [need 4 of 5]
Fear:Unspeakable Terror +1.5% debt protection

Again, not a giant amount of sets or high percentages. It might be worth it in the long run if you’re insanely brave, unlucky, or playing a beloved concept build that just has some gaping weaknesses (I might have a few of those…)

That’s it for this third installment. The next will be the final grouping of IOs by benefit. The next category will be all the damage resistance and defense bonuses status effects.

Though mostly feedback, in the ep we do present some news up front, and some fluffy surprises along the way!

• Issue 13 Closed Beta Starts Oct. 8th
• Castle Talks Powers on w00t Studios Podcast!
• Issue 13 PvE Powers Changes
• Ask a Dev: Introducing Chris Bruce!
• Dev Diary: Designing Issue 13′s Day Jobs Feature (including details on how they work, rewards and accolades)
• Don’t forget – the Hallowen Event runs from Oct. 20th to Nov. 2nd
• Character Bios for Duo and The Knupple King
• Voicemail
• The Great Knupplism by Storminator
• E-Mail
• Comments
• 3 new iTunes Reviews!!
• [ Chooch owes a whole bunch of links from the content of the episode Chooch is a slacker and totally forgot what he was going to add links for. If you would like a link for anything covered, leave a comment/send an e-mail and I'll post it. Sorry about that!]
• Promos: Movie Mantras, Variant Frequencies, and The Takeover — that’s right, 3 hours means 3 promos!

This time we discuss:

• PPD Contest Winners
• Congrats to Troy Hickman and Twilight Guardian!
• New Boosters Now Available: Jetpack and Cyborg!
• IGN.com Talks With Matt “Positron” Miller
• Issue 13: So big it can’t be contained in 1 update
• MMORPG.com Talk About Issue 13 & 14 Changes
• Massively.com Interviews: Issues, PvP, & Boosters
• The Rikti Return! Invasion from Sept. 26 to Oct 2
• Happy Birthday to RoseVortex – Organ Donors Wanted
• Promo: Geek Survival Guide

In This Episode:

• Announcing Issue 13: Architect
• Oversight with the Shield Powerset and Stalkers!
• Hero 1 on Mission Architect on the Training Room!
• Win a Freakshow Costume Code on w00t Studios!
• Want to get some ideas for Base Building?
• Winter Event Testing Sept 4 on the Training Room!
• IO Set Feature thanks to Fantastic Foe!
• New contest – win free PPD Hardsuit costume tokens!
• Promo: JC Hutchins 7th Son Obsidian

Click through for the full IO Set Feature text

IO Set feature, by Fantastic Foe

[Awhile] ago, I suggested as a possible follow up to your IO
feature that you present what IO sets to look into if you were to try
and beef up a specific attribute of a character. You cleverly put the
job onto me (my boss calls that reflection, an art form perfected by
Wally in Dilbert) and suggested I submit something.

For my first research attempt, I decided to target Movement and
Recovery, two aspects that are probably better improved by picking
powers, but I like having options… and you can still pick Stamina
and Swift, and drop the bonuses from IO sets on top. Ignore ED! You
know you want to!

But I digress.

Okay, my basic goal was to look into cheap set pieces that provide a
bonus very quickly, only requiring 2 set pieces to provide the bonus.
Here’s what I found.

IO Set Pieces for Movement (in particular, running speed):

For comparison’s sake, unenhanced Sprint provides a 50% running speed
boost when toggled, unenhanced swift provides 35%. (If I’m wrong on
these percentages, please point it out… I’ll handle the mockery as
best as I can…)

The following IO sets provide bonuses to Running speed when 2 or more
set pieces are in a power:

Ranged Damage: Maelstrom’s Fury +3 % Run
Sniper: Exploit Weakness +2% Run
Healing: Regenerative Tissue +4% Run
Resist Damage: Aegis +5% Run
Hold: Ghost Widow’s Embrace +5% Run
Stun: Stagger +2% Run
Knockback: Kinetic Crash +3% Run
Melee: Focussed Smite +3% movement
Ranged Damage: Thunderstrike +4% movement
Pet: Brilliant Leadership +2% movement
Sleep: Induced Coma +3% movement
Knockback: Force Feedback +5% MOVE (Run, Flight, and Jump)
Endurance Modification: Performance Shifter +5% MOVE (see above)
To Hit: Gaussian’s Syncronized Fire Control +5% MOVE (see above)
Melee: Kinetic Combat +5% movement (see above)

Overall, there are enough large 4% and 5% bonuses that stacking can
can yield some nice results, particularly the ones to increase all
movement powers by 5%. Hover in particular is better when improved by
25% (that would be enhanced Hover, unenhanced hover would still be
painfully slow…)

The availability of the sets vary, the latest is
available at level 25, and none of the sets were prohibitively
expensive (in that at least 2 recipes where relatively cheap to
purchase. I admit to not delving too deeply into the economics.)

IO Set Pieces for Recovery

For comparison’s sake, unenhanced Stamina boosts endurance recovery 25%.

The following IO sets provide Recovery bonuses when 2 or more set
pieces are in a power:

Melee: Bruising Blow 1%
PBAOE: Cleaving Blow 1%
Ranged Damage: Thunderstrike 2%
Targeted AOE: Positron’s Blast 2.5%
Sniper: Calibrated Accuracy 1%
Sniper: Executioner’s Contract 2%
Sniper: Extreme Measures 1.5%
Pets: Commanding Presence 1.5%
Pets: Blood Mandate 1.5%
Heals: Harmonized Healing 1.5%
Heals: MIracle 2.5%
Resist Damage: Steadfast Protection 1.5%
Resist Damage: Impervium Armor 2.5 %
Defense: Kismet 1.5%
Defense: Gift of the Ancients 2%
Confuse: Befuddling Aura 1%
Confuse: Cacophony 1%
Confuse: Malaise’s Illusions 2.5%
Slow: Tempered Readiness 1.5%
Stuns: Razzle Dazzle 2%
Stuns: Stupefy 2.5%
Flight: Soaring 1%
Taunt: Triumphant Insult 1%
Endurance Modification: Adrenal Adjustment 1%
Endurance Modification: Energy Manipulation 1.5%

The remaining +recovery set IOs are all in endurance mod sets, and
require 3-4 set pieces, so Frankenslotting is possible, and can even
be combined with +recovery bonuses from the 2-piece End Mod sets.

Endurance Modification: Efficacy Adaptor (3 IOs required) + 1.5%
Endurance Modification: Performance Shifter (4 IOs required) + 2.5%

Overall, there are many sets that do provide an endurance recovery
boost. Sadly, the percentages are very small, and the stacking limit
of no more than 5 bonuses can hit fast and hard. That being said, it
should be relatively easy to hit +10% recovery, and some sets that can
frankenslot recovery boosting set IOs should easily hit 16-20%. Most
of the sets are relatively cheap to get at 2 pieces, except for the
Defense sets (which are usually small sets overall.)

These seem like small bonuses for the effort. I’d have to do an
in-depth analysis to support or refute that statement, and that is
beginning to seem like real work, In general, this might be of value
to people who despite triple-slotting Stamina still have endurance
issues, or people who choose not to take the Fitness path and instead
maximize endurance reductions and want even more endurance relief.

Beyond the sets above, there are very very expensive Purple IO sets,
available only as level 50 IOs that confer 4% recovery. These sets
are:

Melee: Hecatomb
PBAOE: Armageddon
Targeted AOE: Ragnarok
Confuse: Coercive Persuasion
Sleep: Fortunata’s Hypnosis
Immobilization: Gravitational Anchor
Stuns: Absolute Amazement
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint

These individual sets are Unique, so you couldn’t stack 5 Hecatombs,
but with time, patience, and influence, you could (okay, depending on
your build…) slot 5 from the above list and add +20% to your
recovery. Nice.

A quick clarification on what I mean by Frankenslotting:
You can’t Frankenslot a power if you are slotting more than 4 IOs from one set.

Obviously, you can 5-slot from one set, and then fill the final
available slot with a set IO from a different set, that is still
Frankenslotting. What I should have said: if you want to get IO set
bonuses from more than one set placed in a single power, 4 IOs is the
most you can slot and still be able to slot IOs from a different set
and get bonuses, since you always have to slots at least 2 IOs from a
set to get any bonus.

That might be obvious, but from the way I was saying it in my emails,
that 4 IOs was the max for frankenslotting, it was unclear.

That’s all for now. Hope this is somewhat useful, let me know if you
would like Combat Bonuses from IO Set features delivered in any other
way, or at all, or with more or less detail.

Thanks again for the great podcast.
Pat aka Fantastic Foe

Announcement: Congratulations to our Playing For Keeps novel contest winner: Brian Kotarski!!

News Linkage:

• Leipzig & Penny Arcade (PAX) Exclusive Costumes
• Facebook: Official City of Heroes Page
• Game Update – Tuesday, Aug. 19th @ 6AM Pacific
• Top 5 Finalists Announced in Machinima Contest
• Training Room01 Going Offline on Thursday, Aug. 21
• See City of Heroes at the Seattle PAX Show
• Bay Area Hero-Con 08 Registration Now Open

Promo: Chris Lester’s Arise High School fund

In a couple days will come show notes, linkage, and another episode dedicated to listener feedback.

Promo: Playing For Keeps (Novel hitting Amazon on August 25th!)

This episode we discuss:

• T-shirt status
• Contest is almost over – get your submissions in by Jul 31, 2008!: Win a copy of the debut issue of comic book Twilight Guardian by Troy Hickman! The rules are as follows:
  • Send an Email, starting immediately to cohpodcast@gmail.com
  • We will do 2 random drawings, and Troy will mail them to the winners.
  • Make sure you include the subject: “Twilight Guardian Contest”; your full name; age (over 18); and complete mailing address.
  • If we draw you name and don’t have that info, we will go to the next name we draw.
  • Also, specify how you want it signed- either with just Troy’s signature, or with your name/character name/ or inscribed to your Aunt Fannie.
• Podcaste Global channel
• Podcaste SG
• Listener meet-up – Again, we’ll be hitting the troll caves in Hollows at the next meet-up, so you need a level 12 to join us. We’ll be split up into teams again, but will be all together this time.
• Double XP weekend
• Special Episode coming up w/Mur Lafferty – Submit questions for Mighty Mur!
• CoH News
• NPC Complaints
• Feedback
• Promo: Double Trouble

Linkage:

• Stay Connected with City of Heroes RSS News Feeds!
• It’s All Access for CoH and CoV
• Recent Activity in Violation of the Forum Rules
• Forum Rules Revision
• Visit NCsoft & City of Heroes at Comic Con!
• Game Update – Tuesday, July 22nd @ 6AM Pacific
• Comic Con News Articles

• The t-shirts are in! They’ll be posted “real soon now ™”
• Contest: Win a copy of the debut issue of comic book Twilight Guardian by Troy Hickman! The rules are as follows:
  • Send an Email, starting immediately to cohpodcast@gmail.com
  • We will do 2 random drawings, and Troy will mail them to the winners.
  • Make sure you include the subject: “Twilight Guardian Contest”; your full name; age (over 18); and complete mailing address.
  • If we draw you name and don’t have that info, we will go to the next name we draw.
  • Also, specify how you want it signed- either with just Troy’s signature, or with your name/character name/ or inscribed to your Aunt Fannie.
• CoH News
• Macros and Keybinds — examples and links specific to this topic have finally been posted on our forums!
• I ran out of editing time, so this is getting split into a two parter. Feedback will come a little later this week.

Here is the linkage mentioned in the episode:

• Happy 4th of July from the City of Heroes Dev Team
• Game Update – Wednesday, July 9th at 6AM Pacific
• Double XP is Coming Soon to a Server Near You!
• 51 Month and 54 Month Veteran Rewards Announced!
• Player Video Commemorates City of Heroes Lore
• City of Heroes Bay Area ‘Hero Con 08′
• Join Moderator Niviene Looking at Global Channels!
• PvPEC Presents: Two Against the World, a duo FFA!
• Updated Known Issues – July 9th
• Promo: Form Letter Rejection Theater

This time we talk about:

• Our nephew’s recovery (update: He’s home now and doing GREAT! You’re our hero RD!!)
• T-shirt status (tester shirts are in the mail and shirts will be available to buy soon! Prices are ranging from about $14 to $26 depending on one side vs. two side, colors, etc.
• Contest – Copies of Twilight Guardian are in the mail and on their way to Troy. We have decided on the following rules:
  • Send an Email, starting immediately to cohpodcast@gmail.com
  • We will do 2 random drawings, and Troy will mail them to the winners.
  • Make sure you include the subject: “Twilight Guardian Contest”; your full name; age (over 18); and complete mailing address.
  • If we draw you name and don’t have that info, we will go to the next name we draw.
  • Also, specify how you want it signed- either with just Troy’s signature, or with your name/character name/ or inscribed to your Aunt Fannie.
• Listener meet-up
• Paypal button
• Parsec awards
• North American Forum Maintenance on Monday!
• Time Stamps on the Dev and Community Digests
• Optional In-Game Advertisements
• City of Heroes is going to Comic Con!
• Live Server Update: Tuesday AM 17.200800612.1T
• Global Chat Down on Live as of June 27
• Win a New Car in the Matrix Machinima Contest!
• New Fanzine! Spotlighting Fan Art, Stories & More
• In-Game Store and Account Services Unavailable
• Promo: Double Share, A Traders Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper : Book 4

In this episode we discuss:

• Listener meet-up June 28th at 2pm, Guardian server. We are going to hit the new Hollows content, so you will need a level 5 toon to enter the zone. Meet at Wincott.
  • Viv will be playing either Vico Viv or her new character, Sive the Shining.
  • Chooch will be playing The Incredible Hulk Hogan (an homage to a friend that used to play)
• T-shirt status -still in progress, but coming soon.
• Contest – In the mail and on their way to Troy. We have decided on the following rules:
  • Send us an e-mail with the subject “Funny Book Contest”
  • We will do 2 random drawings, and will mail them to the winners. Make sure you include your full name, age (over 18), and complete mailing address. If we draw your name and don’t have that info, we will go to the next name we draw.
  • No current deadline set; we’ll announce it in the next episode.
• Still I say, go check out Twilight Guardian while you can still get your hands on it! We’ve read it, and I’m really hoping it gets picked up because I want to see what her motivations are and just generally more about the character!
• “This American Hero” Wins Machinima Contest
• Re: Skirt problem
• Wikia to Send Two Lucky Gamers to Pax!
• June 17th update to the live servers
• Sync Bug? Character Can’t Move? Read More Here
• Update on the “Sync Bug”
  • Confirmation about possible bug with Rularuu Bow
• Massively.com – CoX Issue 13: All your base are belong to us?
• Accolade spotlight: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Member Badge
• SG Spotlight: Viper
• Promo: Chasing The Bard, Murder at Avedon Hill, The Metamor City Podcast, Morevi: Remastered

This time we discuss:

• Issue 12: Midnight Hour is Live and Info Links!
• Issue 12 Patch Notes
• Free Respec With Issue 12
• Re: Free Respec With Issue 12
• Developer Diary: Ken Morse, Stretching the Genre!
• Issues Affecting Billing Processing
• Issue 12 Comic Book Now Available!
• Promo: Stranger Things

We had planned on this being a featurecast, but there was just so much other content that we’re going to save the feature until next week!

In this episode we discuss:

• City of Heroes 4 Year Anniversary address from Positron
• Issue 12 open Beta
• The 4 Year Anniversary Calendar with important dates (double XP weekends, etc)
• City of Heroes staff at Summer trade shows
  • Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Sdattle
  • Comic-Con in San Diego
• Many, many comments, an e-mail, and a voicemail from a celebrity guest (kind of)
• SG Spotlight: The Knuckleheads. Both Hero AND Villain side SG on the Pinnacle server. A casual/fun group that enjoys some PLs and other advanced play.
• Promo: Chasing The Bard (an amazing free audiobook)

In this episode we talk about:

• Issue 12 Villain Epic Archetype Video
• Official discussion Acrobatics Power Weakening
• Faction Spotlight: Knives of Artemis
• Accolade Spotlight: Watchman/Watchwoman
• Warcry Positron and Castle Interview
• Promo: Buffy Between The Lines
• Feedback

Viv brings to you:

• Additional Character Slots Announcement by Positron
• Rikti Return
• Vanguard info on rikti assault patterns
• Posi’s response in the WARNING: Spoilers to the VEAT storyline follow!
• Hero Dawn Bash Party – April 19
  
• Loads of listener comments, reviews, and a voicemail
• Promo: Christiana’s Shallow Thoughts

• April Fools Prank – Visual Sounds
• BAB’s link indicating his acrobatic moves (we promise promise promise this is NOT a RickRoll!)
• Optional In-Game Advertising
• Powerset Proliferation FAQ form Doc Brainstorm
• i12 Closed Beta starting next week
• Powers counts and clarifications (some info from Suckerpunch’s CoH Planner
• Civilian NPC’s
• Accolade Spotlight – Atlas Medallion
• CoHPodcast forums
• Promo: Morevi Remastered

This is part two of our guest interview with Rich. There was some very important, last minute news that was added just before we posted though which takes a little time to get through.

In this episode we discuss:

• A last minute news item from Lighthouse and Positron
• Dr. Brainstorm’s Discovery
• Powerset Proliferation
• Improved Character Creator
• Back to the Burrow for us
• The new Forums are rocking – come join us (they got their first porn submissions!)
• Chooch went to lunch with Mur Lafferty, Tee Morris, Marc Bailey & Heather Welliver, and many other creative peoples
• Don’t forget our new voicemail number: 206-333-3206
• Some explanations of why some powers did or did not make it into the proliferation, including letting us know that eventually ALL of the powers should make it over!!
• Rich’s tour of villainy
• Promos: Balticon Podcast, The Next Fix

So, here is the actual podcast episode… again.. I tried once before and it didn’t seem to take. So I just renamed the file, and we’ll see what happens!

——————————

Episode is a bit late… but there was an injury involved, so please don’t debuff us
This episode is part one of a two part interview with a friend of ours dedicated to villains!

We discuss:

• Viv’s on drugs
• News [more complete show notes on actual news items to come]
• Bab’s sig file link
• New Gallery software on cohpodcast.com !
• New Listener Forums !
• Go buy Scott Sigler’s Infected on April 1st! Oh, and in case you don’t know if you’d like it, Scott is letting us attach a free PDF version to this episode!! That’s right, the ENTIRE Novel in no-DRM PDF form is in the feed. However, this is a “3 day only” deal, so I will be removing the PDF from the feed on April 1st.
• New feedback phone number (the old one got disconnected because nobody called in 30 days
• Interview with Rich
  • What draws Rich to the Rogue Isles
  • CoV contacts strategy
  • Differences between COH and COV
  • Task Forces/Strike Forces
  • Level restricted zones
  • Giant Monsters
  • The villain Archetypes
  • Feelings on the announced villain epic archetypes
  • Player populations between Villains and Heroes
  • Villain player attitudes compared to Hero side
  • Thanks to Rich for helping fund the VEAT
  • Villain temp powers and accolades
  • Six Paragons
  • Weekend Hero
• Promos: Chasing the Bard, MetaMor City

This episode is part one of a two part interview with a friend of ours dedicated to villains!

We discuss:

• Viv’s on drugs
• News [more complete show notes on actual news items to come]
• Bab’s sig file link
• New Gallery software on cohpodcast.com !
• New Listener Forums !
• Go buy Scott Sigler’s Infected on April 1st! Oh, and in case you don’t know if you’d like it, Scott is letting us attach a free PDF version to this episode!! That’s right, the ENTIRE Novel in no-DRM PDF form is in the feed. However, this is a “3 day only” deal, so I will be removing the PDF from the feed on April 1st. Sorry, time is up and I had to remove the file from the post and the server. You can still listen to the book for free on Scott’s site though! I just found out that the limited time was on Random House/Crown’s side — but we are allowed to mirror it indefinitely. So, I’ve put it back up
• New feedback phone number (the old one got disconnected because nobody called in 30 days
• Interview with Rich
  • What draws Rich to the Rogue Isles
  • CoV contacts strategy
  • Differences between COH and COV
  • Task Forces/Strike Forces
  • Level restricted zones
  • Giant Monsters
  • The villain Archetypes
  • Feelings on the announced villain epic archetypes
  • Player populations between Villains and Heroes
  • Villain player attitudes compared to Hero side
  • Thanks to Rich for helping fund the VEAT
  • Villain temp powers and accolades
  • Six Paragons
  • Weekend Hero
• Promos: Chasing the Bard, MetaMor City

This episode we discuss:

• Gary Gygax passing
• Rikti invasions return
• “Final” Task Force/Strike force changes
• 48 Month Veteran Reward announced
• A call from Ex Libris to please update account information
• Intro to Base Raids event
• Some very funny forum comments from Back Alley Brawler
• Lots and lots of feedback!
• Promo: Scott Sigler’s Infected

This is an exciting week, Heroes! Lots going on, so this episode is our longest. Buckle up and enjoy!

• Double XP weekend hangover
• Huuuuuge game patch
• Announcement for this year’s Jubilee event!
  Event Timing:
  Start: Thursday, February 14th, 8:59am PST / 11:59am EST
  Finish: Thursday, February 28th, 8:59pm PST / 11:59pm EST
• Info on Manticore and Sister Psyche’s Valentine’s Day wedding on Training Room/Test Server!
• New game pack available for purchase!
• Other interesting news tidbits as well. Did YOU know about the change to Rikti portals? We didn’t!

Then, because we don’t know when enough is enough, we allow ourselves to have a feature discussion after being inspired by questions from a listener. We discuss powers and enhancement slotting as we prefer them.

• Disclaimer on the possibility that Real Numbers will make all of this moot.
• Discussion on archetypes and builds, and how we personally play them.
• Traditional roles of different archetypes within a team.
• Our rule of thumb on slotting enhancements.
• Hero Planners: Joe Chott’s Hero Planner, Mid’s Hero Designer and Sucker Punch’s Hero Planner for guidance on the effects of enhancements in different slots
• Hero Stats

Promo: Geek Acres

Next episode: Scheduled to be a News episode. If there is no news we will discuss the defender/healer roles as requested by a listener!

• Trouble downloading?
• Double XP weekend dates announced
• A couple news bits
• Mobs and the conning system
• Giant Monster spawn rates
• How the whole “giant monster” damage thing works (level scaling)
• Rikti Spawns
• Dwimble’s Guide to mission difficulty settings
• Voicemails
• Promo: Geek Survival Guide

• The 2008 State of the Game
• The “City Vault”
• The next double XP weekend and server hardware improvements
• Valentine’s Day event
• Smoothing the XP curve
• “Real Numbers”
• City of Heroes Fanzine
• Fanzine Submission Webpage
• Changes to Moment of Glory coming
• In-game mail spam
• feedback
• Promo: Playing for Keeps

One note from last episode: We mention that the Winter event is ending on January 6 (today!) and that they will likely close it out during Monday morning’s maintenance. Well a couple days ago Lighthouse posted on the forums that they will end it TONIGHT! So, you have a few less hours to spend those candy canes.

Links for this episode:

• Vidiotmaps
• HeroStats
• Titan Key
• City Info Terminal
• City Game Tracker
• TweakCOH
• TeamSpeak
• Ventrilo
• Promo: Kulture Kast

Be sure to write, comment, or call us and tell us about your Super Group (or Villain Group). We’ll highlight a different SG whenever we have time. Tell us what your play style is (hardcore, laid back, raid focused), tell us about your base, any rules you have, oh – and of course what server you’re on.

In light of this, we are going to take a page out of The Command Line‘s playbook and split the podcast into two weekly episodes. At least for the foreseeable future. The first weekly episode (the one attached) will be all news – both about the game, and what’s going on with us. The second weekly episode will be a main topic.

The combined length will still be around an hour and all told will contain the same content, just in more digestible sizes. Also, people that only like one type of content or the other can ignore the files of the type they don’t like.

Let us know what you think!

This episode contains info about: 

•  i11 launched
• Ouroborus
• Badge Overload
• Referral program
• Free 14 day trial – with no credit card required
• Defiance changes coming
• a little more about animation timing changes
• Feedback on custom weapons
• Remote contact store bug (get while the gettin’s good
• New Statesman Taskforce/Lord Recluse Taskforce badge
•       You can find in depth information on the Official Forums
• Another new CoH Podcast called Jerk Radio
• Hiatus for the Faction highlight segment
• Promo – Space Casey

Only two news clips this episode. First, Floyd “Castle” Grubb, the City of Heroes Development Team powers designer, narrates this trailer spotlighting the all-new power sets introduced in Issue 11: “A Stitch in Time.” The video also briefly touches on Issue 11′s new Weapon Customization feature.

Second is information on the Wonder Woman movie being placed on “indefinite hold”.

I play a promo in this episode for the new free podcast novel “Playing For Keeps“. This is a modern day story of super heroes; super villains; and third wave almost-heroes who are stuck in between. The story is written by the ‘grand dame of podcasting’ Mur Lafferty.

Mur currently hosts two podcasts: I Should Be Writing, for aspiring fiction writers, and Geek Fu Action Grip. This is her first novel; though she has been frequently published in role playing games, video games, and short story forms.

I highly encourage you to give it a listen. Mur is a masterful storyteller. And hey, if you subscribe to the “Playing For Keeps Experience” feed, there is a PDF version of each chapter with a picture of a pie on the cover! Pie I say!