Post by Mangle Paw on May 26, 2012 2:36:35 GMT -5
Heirloom Gear, One Trick Ponies, Farming Patio Furniture, Gold Accounts and Alerts
I. What is heirloom gear and why should I care?
Heirloom Gear is hands down the strongest leveling gear in the game. The stat bonuses on a complete set are superior to anything you will find as a world drop or mission reward well into the late 30's of the leveling process. Add in the set bonuses that include a constant 9% increased experience gain and bonus catalysts when node farming and the direct effect of the gear is very sharp. Substantially sharper than the questionite Armadillo gear But there is another substantial indirect effect. Cash and Recognition. Using this gear frees up all mission rewards to get the recognition for loads of costume unlocks and allows you to sell every gear drop that happens to fall off a bad guy. Net result is monster gear. The downside, you are going to produce a boatload of threat in alerts or groups and you better be prepared for that.
II. Can the sales pitch and give me the numbers.
5 samples*
Level 8: 30 Off: 40.5 Def: 114 (+45% dam**) Primary Stat: No Secondary Unlocked
Total Bonus Damage: 45% discounting extras for str or ego
Level 9: 31 Off: 40.1 Def: 114 (+44% dam**) Primary Stat: 58.5 (+32% dam**) Secondary Stat x1
Total Bonus Damage: 76% discounting extras for str or ego
Level 19: 35 Off: 45.3 Def : 126 (+40% dam**) Primary Stat: 64.5 (+28% dam**) Secondary Stats x2
Total Bonus Damage: 96% discounting extras for str or ego
Level 28: 43 Off: 56.6 Def: 150 (+38% dam**) Primary Stat: 83.5 (+26% dam**) Secondary Stats x2
Total Bonus Damage: 88% discounting extras for str or ego
Level 40: 61 Off: 74.8 Def: 204 (+38% dam**) Primary Stat: 109.5 (+24% dam**) Secondary Stats x2
Total Bonus Damage: 86% discounting extras for str or ego
* With a little effort I should be adding a lvl 38 profile in the future.
** Damage percents are modified by talents so this may vary slightly.
III. Okay you got my attention, but it sounds too good, whats the catch?
Realistically there are three catches. The first I mentioned before, you are going to be an aggro magnet and that will cause an effect in build planning. That would be why I mentioned one trick ponies in the header. Very few of the mid level toons I'm running to farm alerts have more than one attack alternate to the energy builder. The all have a defensive passive, an energy unlock (where needed) a form variant, a self heal, and an oh crap button or two. The need for extra attacks is sublimated to the need to not end up dead in an alert. The second catch is that there are no bonuses for crit chance, crit severity, or energy cost reduction. Crit monkey builds are stymied and energy management is more important to consider right from the start. The crit factor may be a disappointment for some, but if the net means your getting the similar damage without having count on crit percents landing in your favor I think its a fair trade. Additionally, understanding energy management seems like a later lesson for most players, and yet it's one of the most important aspects of the game. Incentive to learn it may be frustrating but once understood, it pays off with every character that follows. The last catch is gathering up the nemesis tokens required to buy the set. 1050 nemesis tokens is quite a bundle. Which leads to the next part.
IV. What is this farming patio furniture nonsense?
The key to pulling all those points together is understanding the nemesis system. You may be thinking 'Once you get a nemesis every once in a while they send some goons and you get a mission and you do it right?' Wrong. There are two interactions that you need to know, and in knowing, it allows you to effectively force a nemesis mission whenever you want it. The first is understanding that there is a six hour cool down that starts when you finish a nemesis mission. Nothing you do during this window can force a new mission but if you have multiple toons pursuing this goal, you can move on to another character. And you should. This gear is bind to account and the goal isn't to get the set for one character. The goal is to a complete set in your hideout bank so it can be used by EVERY character. So log in, get your mission, complete it and move on. Of course that raises the question, how the heck do I force a mission? The answer is, farm patio furniture. That may seem like a joke, and on some level it is, but it's the way to go. You see every time you dispatch a thing (be is a bad guy or an object) there is a small chance of a boost dropping. Because this has caused confusion elsewhere, a boost is one of the colored balls that boost your damage, defense, health or energy. These boosts are what calls on the routine to bring you nemesis minions. But there is a catch. Your nemesis is very unlikely to send goons after you unless you are in the open world (i.e. not in a mission shard). So your goal is to find a place in the world shards with lots of destroyable objects (patio furniture) and start trashing them. Good places to do this include the area in Downtown Millennium City where you escort Harmon and the civilians mission starts (chairs) and the area around Juryrig's warehouse (crates). Go where the objects are and smash till the boost pops, grab the boost and look for the creep shaped clouds that show incoming goons, smash said goons and get a nemesis clue, go do the mission. Easy right? Get the points, get to one of the vendors (in the VIP lounge or in City Center) get your gear.
V. Okay, provided this works you may have some wisdom, anything else you want to share?
Yep. A couple of thoughts after using this gear.
If you end up in an alert and you someone with one of the eye glow effects (dark light, divine light, or fire) that are associated with the gar and you want to tank, you have a fight on your hands. There is a very good chance you are just not going to be able to do so if you don't have top flight gear. Gear is a tremendous factor in this game. CC and CS will do their part, but not for long.
There are a lot of players in this game that just don't understand it. Not their build and not their gear. As proof of that, on two occasions I have completely forgotten to slot the heirloom gear, and still managed to pull threat. That makes me lame for forgetting in the first place, but that makes the pugs I was with even lamer for having managed to get to level 30 and being so under geared and educated that it happened at all. These were not complete packs of level six mooches. This is something that maybe the community needs to consider if it should be addressed, and how. Additionally it is something that probably should be considered when some denizens of the forums resist the call for harder content. Realize that I'm not advocating that we need to all be pro MMO players. I am however flat out stating that Cryptic has done a terrible job at teaching the players of the game what works, and the new gear only complicates the problem because it is hard to concisely describe what good gear is at a given level, and what is important in a build and when it needs to take priority over a new graphically stunning move. The flexibility of the what they have created is to be admired and I give them the highest credit for it
5/27 added lvl 8 and 9 stat profiles
I. What is heirloom gear and why should I care?
Heirloom Gear is hands down the strongest leveling gear in the game. The stat bonuses on a complete set are superior to anything you will find as a world drop or mission reward well into the late 30's of the leveling process. Add in the set bonuses that include a constant 9% increased experience gain and bonus catalysts when node farming and the direct effect of the gear is very sharp. Substantially sharper than the questionite Armadillo gear But there is another substantial indirect effect. Cash and Recognition. Using this gear frees up all mission rewards to get the recognition for loads of costume unlocks and allows you to sell every gear drop that happens to fall off a bad guy. Net result is monster gear. The downside, you are going to produce a boatload of threat in alerts or groups and you better be prepared for that.
II. Can the sales pitch and give me the numbers.
5 samples*
Level 8: 30 Off: 40.5 Def: 114 (+45% dam**) Primary Stat: No Secondary Unlocked
Total Bonus Damage: 45% discounting extras for str or ego
Level 9: 31 Off: 40.1 Def: 114 (+44% dam**) Primary Stat: 58.5 (+32% dam**) Secondary Stat x1
Total Bonus Damage: 76% discounting extras for str or ego
Level 19: 35 Off: 45.3 Def : 126 (+40% dam**) Primary Stat: 64.5 (+28% dam**) Secondary Stats x2
Total Bonus Damage: 96% discounting extras for str or ego
Level 28: 43 Off: 56.6 Def: 150 (+38% dam**) Primary Stat: 83.5 (+26% dam**) Secondary Stats x2
Total Bonus Damage: 88% discounting extras for str or ego
Level 40: 61 Off: 74.8 Def: 204 (+38% dam**) Primary Stat: 109.5 (+24% dam**) Secondary Stats x2
Total Bonus Damage: 86% discounting extras for str or ego
* With a little effort I should be adding a lvl 38 profile in the future.
** Damage percents are modified by talents so this may vary slightly.
III. Okay you got my attention, but it sounds too good, whats the catch?
Realistically there are three catches. The first I mentioned before, you are going to be an aggro magnet and that will cause an effect in build planning. That would be why I mentioned one trick ponies in the header. Very few of the mid level toons I'm running to farm alerts have more than one attack alternate to the energy builder. The all have a defensive passive, an energy unlock (where needed) a form variant, a self heal, and an oh crap button or two. The need for extra attacks is sublimated to the need to not end up dead in an alert. The second catch is that there are no bonuses for crit chance, crit severity, or energy cost reduction. Crit monkey builds are stymied and energy management is more important to consider right from the start. The crit factor may be a disappointment for some, but if the net means your getting the similar damage without having count on crit percents landing in your favor I think its a fair trade. Additionally, understanding energy management seems like a later lesson for most players, and yet it's one of the most important aspects of the game. Incentive to learn it may be frustrating but once understood, it pays off with every character that follows. The last catch is gathering up the nemesis tokens required to buy the set. 1050 nemesis tokens is quite a bundle. Which leads to the next part.
IV. What is this farming patio furniture nonsense?
The key to pulling all those points together is understanding the nemesis system. You may be thinking 'Once you get a nemesis every once in a while they send some goons and you get a mission and you do it right?' Wrong. There are two interactions that you need to know, and in knowing, it allows you to effectively force a nemesis mission whenever you want it. The first is understanding that there is a six hour cool down that starts when you finish a nemesis mission. Nothing you do during this window can force a new mission but if you have multiple toons pursuing this goal, you can move on to another character. And you should. This gear is bind to account and the goal isn't to get the set for one character. The goal is to a complete set in your hideout bank so it can be used by EVERY character. So log in, get your mission, complete it and move on. Of course that raises the question, how the heck do I force a mission? The answer is, farm patio furniture. That may seem like a joke, and on some level it is, but it's the way to go. You see every time you dispatch a thing (be is a bad guy or an object) there is a small chance of a boost dropping. Because this has caused confusion elsewhere, a boost is one of the colored balls that boost your damage, defense, health or energy. These boosts are what calls on the routine to bring you nemesis minions. But there is a catch. Your nemesis is very unlikely to send goons after you unless you are in the open world (i.e. not in a mission shard). So your goal is to find a place in the world shards with lots of destroyable objects (patio furniture) and start trashing them. Good places to do this include the area in Downtown Millennium City where you escort Harmon and the civilians mission starts (chairs) and the area around Juryrig's warehouse (crates). Go where the objects are and smash till the boost pops, grab the boost and look for the creep shaped clouds that show incoming goons, smash said goons and get a nemesis clue, go do the mission. Easy right? Get the points, get to one of the vendors (in the VIP lounge or in City Center) get your gear.
V. Okay, provided this works you may have some wisdom, anything else you want to share?
Yep. A couple of thoughts after using this gear.
If you end up in an alert and you someone with one of the eye glow effects (dark light, divine light, or fire) that are associated with the gar and you want to tank, you have a fight on your hands. There is a very good chance you are just not going to be able to do so if you don't have top flight gear. Gear is a tremendous factor in this game. CC and CS will do their part, but not for long.
There are a lot of players in this game that just don't understand it. Not their build and not their gear. As proof of that, on two occasions I have completely forgotten to slot the heirloom gear, and still managed to pull threat. That makes me lame for forgetting in the first place, but that makes the pugs I was with even lamer for having managed to get to level 30 and being so under geared and educated that it happened at all. These were not complete packs of level six mooches. This is something that maybe the community needs to consider if it should be addressed, and how. Additionally it is something that probably should be considered when some denizens of the forums resist the call for harder content. Realize that I'm not advocating that we need to all be pro MMO players. I am however flat out stating that Cryptic has done a terrible job at teaching the players of the game what works, and the new gear only complicates the problem because it is hard to concisely describe what good gear is at a given level, and what is important in a build and when it needs to take priority over a new graphically stunning move. The flexibility of the what they have created is to be admired and I give them the highest credit for it
5/27 added lvl 8 and 9 stat profiles