N00B guide

[quinch1199]

OK, found special blueprints vendor - all lvl 30 - useless (lvl 20 now).

Found another vendor, but no inventory.

Somewhat discouraging. 

...gene

You'll love him when you get past level 30 though! (oooohhhh....such lovely mods)

I'm desperately trying to level one of my Alts to 30 now as I have some great ideas for fun builds but I'm loathed to go through all the hassle of de-gearing my current main to test them, so I'm right there with you ... progress can seem slow sometimes. 

 

[genedjr]

More N00B stuff ----

OK "active beacon detected" ... crap

I go there wait forever for the analysis to finish (well, maybe 30 sec ) look at everything with the 4 dots - and nothing, no end, no do this next.  When I move out of the area and back in - it activates again - PITA

What the H am I supposed to do?

...gene

 

[Oh. daesu]

More N00B stuff ----

OK "active beacon detected" ... crap

I go there wait forever for the analysis to finish (well, maybe 30 sec ) look at everything with the 4 dots - and nothing, no end, no do this next.  When I move out of the area and back in - it activates again - PITA

What the H am I supposed to do?

...gene

Most are just their own story and require no action. There are a few which form part of a mission, in which case you have to find someone in particular or what was said.

The beacons will notify you when you are near. No stopping that.

 

[quinch1199]

More N00B stuff ----

OK "active beacon detected" ... crap

I go there wait forever for the analysis to finish (well, maybe 30 sec ) look at everything with the 4 dots - and nothing, no end, no do this next.  When I move out of the area and back in - it activates again - PITA

What the H am I supposed to do?

...gene

Did you "collect" it once it started analysing but before you moved to Investigate the other parts? 

Daesu is correct though that there are a few that are just story and always remain active as you pass them. 

 

[genedjr]

OK, more N00B stuff - shield deployment - WTH

If I am in cover, I hit the button, bounces me out of cover,  and it does not deploy - but consumes that deployment - and I die.
If I just stand up and hit to soon, it does not deploy - consumes the deployment - and I die.

While the move penalty is extreme it seem the only option when you know you are going into a fight where you must close!!!

If I hit the shield, it should deploy - in all cases - is that not the desired action?

Thoughts?

...gene

 

[quinch1199]

OK, more N00B stuff - shield deployment - WTH

If I am in cover, I hit the button, bounces me out of cover,  and it does not deploy - but consumes that deployment - and I die.
If I just stand up and hit to soon, it does not deploy - consumes the deployment - and I die.

While the move penalty is extreme it seem the only option when you know you are going into a fight where you must close!!!

If I hit the shield, it should deploy - in all cases - is that not the desired action?

Thoughts?

...gene

Planning and tactics. IF you're in cover, stay in cover, if the cover becomes untenable move before it gets to be a serious issue (i.e. be aware of enemy locations around you and where you're taking fire from). Cover buff stills are often a better option if you're in such a situation. 

Personally the deployable shield is effective really only in certain situations (corridors/doorways for example with little cover) and remember that now you have a gear set available that allows use of an SMG with shield deploys. 

Shield builds are Tank builds, intended for you to take aggro. 

 

[DeadSockPuppet]

I just started a defense/shield build this weekend and what I did was deploy the shield right when we start the first combat.  I then Tank and don't hid in cover, which draws fire and alllows the rest of the crew to kill the NPCs.  Pro tip: you can run with the shield deployed, it just "hides" it and you lose its benefit, but it pops back out when you stop running.  

To see this in action, queue up my most recent Twitch video (Saturday) to 1hr 42 min and you'll see what I'm taking about, it can just own and I've yet to break a shield.  

Check out this video Filthy casual on PS4 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/121516780

 

[quinch1199]

I just started a defense/shield build this weekend and what I did was deploy the shield right when we start the first combat.  I then Tank and don't hid in cover, which draws fire and alllows the rest of the crew to kill the NPCs.  Pro tip: you can run with the shield deployed, it just "hides" it and you lose its benefit, but it pops back out when you stop running.  

To see this in action, queue up my most recent Twitch video (Saturday) to 1hr 42 min and you'll see what I'm taking about, it can just own and I've yet to break a shield.  

Check out this video Filthy casual on PS4 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/121516780

The build will be the new LZ meta...especially when 1.6 hits and crit's come back to SMG's! 

 

[Oh. daesu]

The build will be the new LZ meta...especially when 1.6 hits and crit's come back to SMG's! 

Do you get that still? Or will thay be 0% as well?

 

[quinch1199]

Do you get that still? Or will thay be 0% as well?

You've...got me there... I need to check: "CRIT chance is back on all SMGs with max roll of 22%"

D3 set states: "SMG Crit Chance is reduced to 0%"

...I'll do some hunting as I thought the restriction on D3 was Crit Damage...

EDIT - Ok, seems that the changes in 1.6 won't effect D3 builds directly but will compliment nicely as you'll be able to run an SMG with stacked CHC talents which will do a great job of melting opponents when you don't have shield active, and you don't want to really have to swap weapons just before deploying a shield. It gives you a much better balanced build where you can deal damage when your talent is on cool-down. 

 

[Oh. daesu]

Yeah, wasn't sure if they count that as a talent or not.

 

[DeadSockPuppet]

Do you get that still? Or will thay be 0% as well?

From VG247:

Frontline’s [D3-FNC] 4-piece no longer removes the critical hit chance, instead it removes the effect of any mods you have applied to the shield.

So you will get the SMG CHC bonus and bonuses from mods, the shield just won't get any bonuses from shield mod bonuses.  

My understanding of how this works is in my case I have 4 shield mods on my gear and that I wouldn't get those.  Personally, I'd prefer to keep the shield mods, as they make it easier for me to tank longer and harder.  As a Tank I'm purposely "taking fire" and not "dealing damage", so a more effective shield is more useful than attack bonuses.  

 

[genedjr]

remember that now you have a gear set available that allows use of an SMG with shield deploys. 

Really?  How is that done?  That would be very cool.

OK, for my solo play, I use a marksman rifle, I like the SCAR-H.  Good x15 scope, as much accuracy as I can find, good 30%+ reduced threat.  This allows the initial engagement to be at max range for my graphics card.  The MOBs usually find me after two or three are down.  I can usually get one or two more before they close.  Then there are fun choices - move in cover, pop shield and tank, jump into building to funnel the MOBs, etc.  My choice is usually what is fun for the moment or to learn more about a different technique.  Hense the shield question.

BTW - Dropped Simon Burris with a combination of fire turret, m60 with explosive rounds, and finally shield with p45 and explosive rounds - he was a real bear though.

...gene

oh yes - solo char lvl 24, duo char with son lvl 25, 187 hours of game time - so not so n00b anymore - and having a blast!

 

[DeadSockPuppet]

If you have 4 pieces of D3-FNC gear and a SMG equipped as primary or secondary, when you pull out the shield you automatically pull your SMG.  Note, you can't switch to your pistol unless you put the shield away, switch to pistol and then draw the shield again, if I remember right.  

 

[genedjr]

 D3-FNC  looking at videos - end game stuff...

Something to look forward to I guess.

...gene

 

[quinch1199]

 D3-FNC  looking at videos - end game stuff...

Something to look forward to I guess.

...gene

Absolutely but shield is an excellent (almost OP) set up sometimes for earlier levels and its a good way to practice using it before you get to the end game. 

 

[quinch1199]

Then there are fun choices - move in cover, pop shield and tank, jump into building to funnel the MOBs, etc.

Or throw a couple of 'nades their way, plant a turret and pull back again if you can and get that distance to snipe. People don't use grenades enough to be honest and with the buffs you can get for area and damage on them as minor talents on gear they can really do some damage (I dealt with an open world roaming boss in a video coming up with a grenades because he's a shield user)

 

[genedjr]

Another N00B question - I need to understand the basics of Firearms score, stamina score, electronics score - Please explain  :1_grinning:

That is do I what balanced, what happens when one or two are high at the expense of the other.

And why.

...gene

 

[genedjr]

And another N00B question.

It seems I die alot, at least once per mission.  Is that the norms, to just bonzi in to figure it out?

I HATE dying.  But if that is the fastest tactic to figuring a scenario out, I guess I will learn.

...gene

 

[DeadSockPuppet]

Another N00B question - I need to understand the basics of Firearms score, stamina score, electronics score - Please explain  :1_grinning:

That is do I what balanced, what happens when one or two are high at the expense of the other.

And why.

...gene

You have to decide what kind of build (role) you want and what weapon talents you want to determine how to work your skills.  

- Higher firearms adds more DPS to your weapons and tends to help unlock attack talents on weapons.  High firearms tends to be used for attack builds.

- Higher stamina adds more HP for your toon and increases your health regeneration rate and tends to help unlock a mix of talents.  High stamina tends to be used for tank or aggro-drawing builds.

- Higher electronics adds more skill points to your toon, increase the effectiveness of your skills (damage, duration, cooldown, etc.) and tends to unlock skill based talents.  High electronics tends to be used for support builds.

As I said, determine what kind of role you want to play, which will in turn determine what kinds of builds you'll use.  Once you have that, find some weapons you like and weapon talents that work with your build.  Each talent will have a minimum stat level to unlock it and you will need to consider anywhere from none to all of the stats when looking at the minimum stats.  

Ultimately find your play style and then set your stats.  Having all 3 stats roughly even won't usually be a good idea and this will become more relevant with update 1.6, where roles will need to be a little more defined to play the more difficult content