My dear friends and self supporting individuals..... where's our fixer pride?

[Syreee]

Seconded. Tanking Vanya <3

(No, not you, Sary.)

Shush. Just you wait Cord, I'll catch up soon enough *grins*

About my Fixer pride, I still go by style > substance all the time.

[Kaylinne]

That's just not true.

Yes, thats definitely not true.
I did quite an effort at tl5, didnt just outlevel to tl6 - reperked, put in new symbs, got some new gear and so on..... and I can say I havent found single prof that could OD me at those levels. Only better DDer was several levels higher sol (and a good one too).

I remember having ai raid with keeper, crat, engie and I think trader (nt was gone in first wave) - all at least 6-10 levels higher than me - where I unintentionally pulled aggro on general and kept it till I died (general was still at like 2% hp).

At other raid where I was lucky to have doc and survive same thing happened though there was an enf mongoing (he said something like "I mongoed 10 times and couldnt regain agro").

[sobeguy]

I will say, I knew things had changed a lot when a fixer complained to me that there's no way for a fixer to make enough money . . .

Fixers used to be the very best toon for making money, after all. lol

[Breaks]

I will say, I knew things had changed a lot when a fixer complained to me that there's no way for a fixer to make enough money . . .

Fixers used to be the very best toon for making money, after all. lol

We still are way up there.

CRU blitzing is probably the most and most reliable cash per hour we can sustain...and with our DD combined with 90%+ evasion rates on RK mobs, they're easy, painless, and swift.

Running your own blitzing business can likewise be quite profitable, and is far more constant than camping dynas or farming aliens.

Sure, being a keeper or advie and farming bots is probably the best source of cash...but it requires a huge initial investment.

Any fixer who says they can't make money just doesn't know how. At level 100 I was blitzing 100% missions for animas and battlesuits and raking in 10m/day easily. Sure, it took like 2 sets of 9 missions to make that much money, but that only took 2-3 hours, and I could spend the rest of my playtime however I wanted.

I'll respond on the DD front too, because a couple of people here would be surprised if I didn't

Burst as a sole DD tool is vastly underestimated. People look at soldiers and see Burst+Fling+FA and look at Fixers and see Burst+Fling and say, "well, fixers are just soldiers without FA."

That's not true. We're soldiers who don't have to waste time reloading every 11s, thereby missing 2 regular hits every 11 seconds. Those two regular hits are worth between 3000 damage and 6000 damage, depending on who we have in a team, whether we have reinforce slugs running, and whether they crit. A soldier's FA from a pistol will average somewhere around 9-10,000 damage, so all other things equal, we'd be losing 3-7k damage every 11 seconds. But all other things are not equal. Our regular hits are harder than a soldiers, particularly pre-220, when a fixer will most likely be at the AR cap on 300 KMPs with ANY AR boosting prof in the team, but a soldier may well not be. Even at 220, half of a pistol soldiers regular damage will be done by their jobe pistol, which will never do much beyond 1000 damage per hit, whereas fixer damage can reach 2k+ per hit with a keeper and soldier in the team.

So KMP/jobe soldiers will, assuming equal gear and skill levels, always outdamage a fixer by a marginal amount, 5-10k per min.
A SPB soldier will not OD a fixer. Ever. Nope, not even on APF or Pande raids if the fixer is paying attention.
A KEP/jobe soldier will, assuming equal gear and skill levels, ONLY outdamage a fixer on APF raids and pande raids of 50+ people.
A KC-13 soldier will do the same DD as a KEP/jobe soldier in a team setting, but will perform less well on APF and pande raids of 50+ people, where alpha strength and frequency is more important.

If you pay attention as a fixer, it's very hard to OD you.

I did an AI raid the other day with a 220 adv, a 220 enf, a 220 KEP/jobe soldier, a 220 doc, and...i don't remember who the last person was. I'm 218. I was top DD. None of them are in perk resets.

I'm not bragging...I'm attempting to dismiss this idea that people have that fixers are poor DD. We are excellent. Lower than Keepers, Soldiers, MAs, and Shades on raid DD, and lower than Shades in a team, but every other prof must choose at some point whether they want PvM DD or PvP viability. Soldiers choose KMP vs KEP, MAs choose Disharmony Vs. CiB, Keepers choose Street Samurai Vs. Holy Mark. We don't have that problem. The same gear and perks that are ideal for us in PvP are the best DD gear and perks we can use for PvM. Yes tink, there are better armor choices for PvM tanking or soloing, but for DD, you can't beat CSS with anything other than CC...and most of us that pvp are already in one or the other.

Also, lack of utility? WTF?

90% of the time I'm SKing, I'm tanking. About half the AI raids I do, I'm tanking. I rely on DD and AE snare spam and Jealousy Augmented multiplier spam to keep mobs on me. I pull. Singles. Every. Time. It's quite easy to pull singles as a fixer, because if we **** up...acrobat, run back into the room, snare all but one, bring the one you wanted.

In pen or inf mishes, it's incredibly easy to fling pull most rooms, but when it's not, most soldiers or enfs will say **** it and pull multiples. This is where, if deaths happen, they occur. If I can't fling pull a room, I go in, stand on top of one and snare it, and then bring the other. 80 seconds later, which is just around when the first mob dies, the second one unsnares and wanders over to say hi.

So...ability to flawlessly pull anything is essentially the same as calming, and calming is pretty good group utility. Tanking is pretty good group utility. An extra 7-800 runspeed is a whole lot of time saved running through pen mishes, probably 5 minutes not wasted, by inviting a fixer.

NCU...lots of profs use up almost all of their own NCU - keepers use huge amounts of NCU in particular. I've never had a team not want NCU. Sure, you can make do without it, but why?

My HoTs usually end up healing between 25 and 50k damage over the course of a pen mish. I've seen them heal up to 100k damage over the course of an inf mish. Sure, that's less than the doc, and less than a MP pet, and less than an adv...but it's better than most MAs do over the course of a mish on healing.

I'm not saying fixers should get invited because of HoTs, or because we can tank, or because we can pull singles all day with our eyes closed, or because we can buff NCU and damage if there's no soldier, or because we're top-tier DD - I'm saying we should be proud, and we should be invited, because we are ALL of these things, at once, without having to sacrifice anything to do so.

[Ludozee]

Wow... this post made me feel proud to be a fixer again...

[Kaylinne]

Wow... this post made me feel proud to be a fixer again...

If you ever saw Breaks tanking something it would made you even more proud trust me

[Kahiri]

Now that was a very nice post. And it's really why I don't understand fixers isn't in more demand. I can only speculate it's because the utilities isn't as obvious as for other professions, and of course, lets not forget, it requires you to work at it. A bad fixer isn't any of those things. A good fixer on the other hand, is a force to be reckoned with.


It might also be worth noting that fixers have the best damage buff you can give to others that isn't team dependent, although since we are talking team utility, maybe not a good selling point. But still, with no soldier in the team, everybody will do more damage if there is a fixer there.

[Kaylinne]

And it's really why I don't understand fixers isn't in more demand.

Because too many players are totally unaware of it.
They know crats have xp buff and they want crats. They know docs heal and they want docs.

Take a look on lft for pen missions - its all about crats and docs.

I met face in face those famous Pen-teams recently and I was amazed at sometimes total ignorance of their own proffessions tool set, not to say about knowing any others.
I consider it a success if team at least stick together and fight the same mob..... that is a really big deal because some of them act like they never heard of "assist".
They dont even read the team chat - when you say "please stop for buffing" they just continue running for some more sk/per minute.

Breaks wrote a great post - pity is that those that would benefit most from reading it didnt even discover the existance some forums connected with AO yet.

[Kahiri]

Yeah. There is a reason that I almost only do org teams. So much easier, and you know that the people there will do a good job and pull there weight! Should also be said though that I ment a lot of other, good people.

The funny thing is, if you have a good team, of people who knows what they are doing, you don't need any of the 'must have' professions, like docs. Although obviously depending on what your doing, but you can do a lot more than people think.

[Dragonkeeper]

Well being leader of The Mockers I cant pass this up. I can't begin to explain the love Ive had since they day I was born a Fixer. The next most important mark in my life was joining the Mockers that was run by none other then Trellame. Since those days we've have the Fixer Professional Nettie and our still loved Hoopspro. Afraid I dont know our current professional but Im sure we have a great one to keep up the love for this profession.

Now I do agree we do need a Fixercon as I remember being apart of Fixercon I and planning of the second that if memory serves me right never did happen. I'd tickle me to death to have all the fixers gather up for a good old reunion. We've all come so far from hunting all those Vulture's/shades/borgs back in those days would be great to dusty off my old steel ribbed armor and get me Mausser back out just for a good old kick So if we have some takers lets organize something for the near future.

[Jomish]

first - I'm not in "cry me a river" mode. I like my fixer and I'm heading to 220.
second - I appreciate the info and analysis here, it's very interesting but my stat collection on raid and team seems to show differently

in actual practice a good similar level soldier worth his/her salt will be anywhere from +20% to +100% fixer damage depending on setup --- regardless of whether or not the fixer is kmp or ksmg

on raids where you run into people who have done some serious damage twinking you run into soldiers that have atronomical damage figures. even for zod raids which are smaller and are not ruled by alpha damage.

occassionally, at certain levels and with certain setups fixers will show up quite respectably, putting many lazy soldiers to shame

but on average -- this is how it goes and this is not just based on me, it's based on other fixers in the DD stats too

chars which can/might/will OD us and offer better team utility

ai axe weilding advie can reasonably tank/doc/dd and even do mini calms
shade +damage
soldier +damage and shield
engineeer +damage and shield
nuking 1hb MP - a good 220 can even be top dd in a raid, no lie, uber buffs
keeper +damage/nano/heal to all

chars that get fairly close and offer better team utility

1hb/energyhammer enforcer - if slightly modded for dd, best tank/off tank in game
trader scoped sablimo DD +umbral and calm, _very_ underestimated currently
crat with good charmed pets - well, who doesn't love crat buffs

mixed bag on damage and utility

NT - awesome calms but can only dd in specific situations, otherwise is junk
agent - varies hugely
MA - varies hugely

people know this too, except for the bit about traders -- no one seems to have picked up on that one yet.

what can I say. I hope to be proven six kinds of wrong at 220.

[Breaks]

first - I'm not in "cry me a river" mode. I like my fixer and I'm heading to 220.
second - I appreciate the info and analysis here, it's very interesting but my stat collection on raid and team seems to show differently

in actual practice a good similar level soldier worth his/her salt will be anywhere from +20% to +100% fixer damage depending on setup --- regardless of whether or not the fixer is kmp or ksmg

on raids where you run into people who have done some serious damage twinking you run into soldiers that have atronomical damage figures. even for zod raids which are smaller and are not ruled by alpha damage.

occassionally, at certain levels and with certain setups fixers will show up quite respectably, putting many lazy soldiers to shame

but on average -- this is how it goes and this is not just based on me, it's based on other fixers in the DD stats too

chars which can/might/will OD us and offer better team utility

ai axe weilding advie can reasonably tank/doc/dd and even do mini calms
shade +damage
soldier +damage and shield
engineeer +damage and shield
nuking 1hb MP - a good 220 can even be top dd in a raid, no lie, uber buffs
keeper +damage/nano/heal to all

chars that get fairly close and offer better team utility

1hb/energyhammer enforcer - if slightly modded for dd, best tank/off tank in game
trader scoped sablimo DD +umbral and calm, _very_ underestimated currently
crat with good charmed pets - well, who doesn't love crat buffs

mixed bag on damage and utility

NT - awesome calms but can only dd in specific situations, otherwise is junk
agent - varies hugely
MA - varies hugely

people know this too, except for the bit about traders -- no one seems to have picked up on that one yet.

what can I say. I hope to be proven six kinds of wrong at 220.

I have never, ever, on any DD i've recorded or seen posted, been OD'd by a non-220 MP or Engie. So...while the 220s certainly beat me on raids when they're good, in a team setting, unless we're talking about all 220 ai raids, we do more damage while still levelling up.

Traders can do very respectable damage, but must sacrifice tremendously in other areas to do so - see This thread for reference.

If I'm tanking, advs OD me. If they are tanking, I OD them due to lack of backstab. I hit the top 10 on raids far more often than advs to, though one or two of them do manage it consistantly.

I've never seen an enf other than the main tank higher than me on a raid dd, or any enf beat me in a team, and in SL mishes I tank just as well as they do, so I guess their added utility would be that they can hold agro better over the adds that other people pulled, because inevitably someone lags or is a moron.

I won't lie, yes, keepers, shades, soldiers, and a good MA *SHOULD* always OD me. From personal experience, far fewer fixers are lazy bums in teams and on raids. I don't really know why, because we don't have as many buttons to press as many other profs, but we tend to actually push the ones we've got. If I were playing a trader, I'd probably do about the same dd I do now. If I were playing a soldier, I'd do significantly more dd than I do now. If I were playing a keeper or MA or shade, I'd do significantly more dd than I do now. But why?

There are already a handful of excellent players playing each of those profs, wowing people at raids with their uber dd. I think it shows up the lazy/afk soldiers more to have a fixer OD them than to have another uber soldier ODing their ass.

[Kahiri]

in actual practice a good similar level soldier worth his/her salt will be anywhere from +20% to +100% fixer damage depending on setup --- regardless of whether or not the fixer is kmp or ksmg

Funny, thats not been my experience. Sure, some of the good pistol soldiers OD me(AR soldiers don't stand a chance), but by twice as much as me? Certainly not something I have seen/noticed at least. And I know I could get more damage out of Kahiri with a few improvements.

Maybe breaks is right that there are more lazy high level soldiers than fixers at high levels, I don't usually team with many other fixers(except the ones in the org).

I know fixers are not top damage, but we can certainly be up there and do quite well. Always seems to be a couple of fixers mixing it up in the high end of raids and such too.

[Jomish]

good words

on pande raids top soldiers can nearly double fixers

I might be exagerating some, but it's usually a pretty big diff

[Jujuwalker]

It's like Juju says, really... it doesn't matter what you do, it's how you do it.

My org's top fixer once told me "I just blitzed a few missions wearing the pink-dotted boxers!" - I rest my case.

This is more like it !

I myself used to carry a BAR (this means bar) with me, and would drop it down at the top of the mission (post boss killing) and say the drinks were on me..... until i forgot about it and it despawned 5 minutes later. The bar safely stays in my appartment for now.

Being good at doing the bad is a good thing, dig ?

[Nanotehnpoir]

f
trader scoped sablimo DD +umbral and calm, _very_ underestimated currently

people know this too, except for the bit about traders -- no one seems to have picked up on that one yet.

what can I say. I hope to be proven six kinds of wrong at 220.

I don't think traders are as underestimated as you think ^^, yes a trader can get a very high DD, but at a VERY big cost.. you must sacrifice many nanoskills and other things which otherwise make you more useless in other aspects of the game...

Traders have good calms, our evades overall aren't that great, our heals (especially by a 220 trader) are not that great...

If you're talking just PvM damage dealing, if you want to sacrifice a lot and suck at other aspects of game.. You can do that fairly well on a trader...

But Fixers/other professions do NOT have to do that sacrificing to get to that damage...

I like/want to do a lot of things overall with my trader, the fact is I won't be top in ANY of them.. and compared to other professions.. the balance on a trader is quite awful..

That's my thoughts as a trader!

[Pafpuf]

good words

on pande raids top soldiers can nearly double fixers

I might be exagerating some, but it's usually a pretty big diff

Big diff ? I don't think so. (bottom left corner ^^)

Check out how many soldiers there are behind me too. As a fixer I'm top DD every raid (unless I slack ) so from my personal experience I can't say fixers are bad DDers unless you're doing something wrong.

[Kaylinne]

Big diff ? I don't think so. (bottom left corner ^^)

Check out how many soldiers there are behind me too. As a fixer I'm top DD every raid (unless I slack ) so from my personal experience I can't say fixers are bad DDers unless you're doing something wrong.

I love your GUI....... gimme link

[Jomish]

pafpuf is exceptional, as are some others, so some of these comparisons are "apples to oranges"

comparing similar quantities, like average fixer to average soldier my statements hold true, the soldier can even be half asleep and miss some attacks

once again, I very much hope to be proven wrong when I'm un-gimp-ified with 220 reperking

[Breaks]

Pafpuf is exceptional, but the average soldier is far, far below an exceptional fixer. An average fixer is probably in the same place an average soldier is, maybe slightly lower. Not half.

Half is a mathematical imposibility unless you are unable to assist fast enough due to lag or whatever.

On APF raids whoever is or has the best caller will win DD.

In AI raids (single team), an exceptional soldier can do 50% more damage than I do occasionally on the ground, merely because their full alpha recharges for every wave and is significantly larger than mine, and waves basically die in the time it takes to execute a full alpha. But I always regain ground percentagewise on the ship.