Call Me Awesome

By definition I am a PvE'er... I do go after Shivans on occasion but by no means am I even the slightest interested in PvP; if I encounter a villain I simply avoid them if possible and leave if not.

I accept the risk of running into a PvP'er as the cost of getting Shivans, and I don't seriously object to their being there IF THEY BEHAVE IN AN ACCEPTABLE MANNER. I'll simply leave if they try to engage because I dislike PvP. It doesn't matter if I'm running a level 50 IO'd out scrapper or a level 15 squishy I will not engage in PvP because I do not enjoy it.

Where I have a major problem is the trash talking juvenile delinquents who seem to predominate in zone PvP. In my opinion that behavior has no reason to exist, it's the kind of thing you see between 8 year olds arguing on the playground. I don't put up with it from children in real life, I'm damned well not going to put up with it in a game.

We appear to have a conflict with the PvP mindset being unable to comprehend that for the vast majority of the playerbase PvP is something to be avoided. Just because someone is running a PvE mission in a PvP zone doesn't mean they have any interest whatsoever in PvP. Yes, they run the risk of PvP, but most will actively avoid it.

Here's my question to the PvP'ers... just how is your constantly chasing and ganking players who already have no interest in PvP advancing your cause? You're creating an unpleasant experience for them which isn't exactly the best way to encourage them to want to PvP.

Personally I absolutely DESPISE the PvP mentality that I see in the zones... in the time since issue 6 I've run across only a handful of zone PvP'ers who wern't there simply to gank anyone they saw. (That doesn't count the players who were only there for the PvE missions.) All the rest have been trash talking gloating gankers. Over 4 years in game on 2 servers and that's been my experience.

I won't put up with that attitude in real life and there's no way I'll put up with it in a game. Because of this experience I REFUSE to participate in PvP. I'll run the Shivan mission simply because the vast majority of the time Bloody Bay's empty... or at least only populated by other players solely interested in Shivans. I avoid Warburg and Siren's completely because of the prevalence of this attitude.

People in this game, by and large, hate PvP and the behavior of the vast majority of zone PvP'ers is the reason why.

Well, Amazon.com has the COH DVD Collector's in stock... but they want $99 per copy. Other than happening to luck into finding an unopened copy in a bargain bin somewhere that may be your only option.

I've leveled a couple of Stone tankers to 50, one a Stone/EM and the other Stone/Fire so I've acquired some familiarity with the Stone Armor set.

I can see what you're going for here; it looks like you're sacrificing a good chunk of survivability to do it though. Granite really needs to be slotted for resistance as well as defense... as it is you're way over the soft cap defensively on Granite but well under where you should be in resistance.

The Miracle unique in EE will only work for 2 minutes after you click the power... I'd certainly suggest moving it to Health. In fact I'd suggest 5 slotting EE with Doctored Wounds instead, it'll be much cheaper and the bonuses you're getting from the Miracle really aren't that useful to you.

Somewhat the same reasoning applies to Rooted and the Harmonized Healing; that's a lot of slots invested for minimal return. Personally I simply frankenslot end/heal IO's there and call it good in 3 slots.

I don't suggest spending the inf on the KB proc in the Blessing of the Zephyr set, it really doesn't do anything worthwhile for you and it's extremely expensive. Along the same lines I'd pull that proc out of recall & TP as well.

Taunt is probably better with the Mocking Beratement set for you, particularly since it offers a cheap 7.5% recharge bonus.

As a stone tank I find that Swift is MUCH more useful than Hurdle... 3 slotted Swift helps offset the -run in Rooted and Granite.

I realize you're going for AOE/F/C defense with Stamina but that's a lot of slots to invest for it, I'd pull the last two slots from there, you've other places that can better use them.

In your armors slotting I'd consider the Gift of the Ancients set instead of the Luck of the Gambler; for one it's cheaper by a rather large margin and it'll give you some very tasty recovery and +endurance bonuses. The +runspeed proc is an added benefit for a stone tank. That LotG +recharge proc is mighty nice, but unless you've several hundred million inf to throw at the build they're in the "luxury" category... last I saw they sold for 80-100 million.

Oh, one missing piece is the Steadfast Protection unique, it's worth 3% defense to ALL and would go nicely into Stone Skin. It's a bit pricey, but nothing like the LotG +recharge... last one I bought was around 15 million. They're not too expensive if you're using Merits; around 120 merits if I remember correctly. Ah, scratch that previous comment, I see it slotted into Tough... Stone Skin is still a better choice IMO.

Hope that gives you a few ideas; there's a few things that are different than I'd do but it should work. For one I never saw the need for Tough/Weave... if I was facing more than Rock Armor/Rooted/Stone Skin could handle I had Granite available. Fully slotted Granite (ED cap resist & defense, possible even on SO's) was always the "you can't hurt me" button; even Lord Recluse buffed by his towers can't kill my stoner, and I don't even need team support. Ghost Widow on the other hand with her MAG 100 hold of doom.....

Well, so far Bill Collector has only hit 5 so it's a bit early to tell, but he's playing rather like a claw scrapper... I'm kind of making things up as I go along since I haven't really studied the SoA sets as of yet.

Wouldn't you know that the villain I get to 50 is one I rolled up on Infinity... BC lives on Guardian with the rest of my characters. Starting over again with an empty base and no money; although that should change quickly with a little marketing, or since it's redside is that racketeering?

After 5 years playing this game and 12 level 50's blueside I finally leveled a villain. Fyrepower, my Fire/WP brute, hit 50 tonight. Unfortunately the moment of the ding wasn't exactly... epic, a Longbow Eagle pushed him over the top. I'd been hoping to hit it killing Ms. Liberty in an Abyss mission but my timing was off .

Anyway I'm now officially one of the dirty rotten redsiders I'm not sure what my next project may be, but I did roll up a Widow. I picked the most evil, nasty and disgusting name I could think of: Bill Collector.

WP is a decent scrapper/brute set, although it seems weaker than some. My 49 Fire/WP brute is certainly much squishier than my 50 BS/Shield scrapper... both are IO'd heavily. It seems comparable to my Spine/Regen scrapper in durability, or about middle of the pack in late game.

Now my main complaint with WP as a tanker set is it's nonexistent taunt aura... WP tankers have a much harder time holding aggro and most I've teamed with don't even try. The terrible aura is the main reason why I haven't had any interest in playing a WP tank; I feel rather strongly that a tank is supposed to hold aggro.

As has been said, if you're only going to be able to build one defense to significant level then S/L is certainly your best option, it protects against considerably more attacks than any other defense type.

I'd certainly recommend focusing exclusively on S/L... having that as high as practical will be more useful than getting all of your defenses to moderate levels.

Well, I'd certainly go with SS over EM; while I haven't played SS to a significant level I HAVE played an EM tank to 50 and it was fairly painful to level even in issue 7.

Another thought might be a Shield/Mace using one of the custom weapons... how about a manhole cover in one hand and a shovel in the other? Your basic construction site sledgehammer? Mace as I understand it has some decent AOE and packs a wallop nowadays.

Well, in my opinion on the Invuln side, once you've softcapped, Unstoppable is skippable as you have done, Resist Elements is likewise skippable... it's minor resistance to a rare damage type.

I've leveled a couple of Fire Melee characters and obviously you're stuck with Scorch. Skippable powers in Fire Melee, I'd put Build Up first on the chopping block, then Breath of Fire. I consider Combustion/Fire Sword Circle the cornerstone of the set and should come ASAP, and I'd also fairly strongly recommend Greater Fire Sword and Incinerate. If you're getting tight on powers Fire Sword would be my next choice to drop.

Boxing/Tough/Weave are part of the defense build so that's one pool and 3 powers. Hurdle/Health/Stamina are a given; another pool and 3 powers. Finally you've your travel power and prereq for a third pool and 2 powers.

Let's see, we're up to 7 powers from the primary, 6 or 7 from the secondary and 8 pool powers. That leaves you with room for 2 or 3 choices from your APP. Picking Pyre Mastery if you get 3 powers then I'd suggest Char/Fire Blast/Fire Ball... if you're stuck with only 2 then I'd probably be tempted to get Ice for Block of Ice and Ice Blast.

In order of selection, I'd build like my first 20 levels guide early and plan on sliding Boxing/Tough/Weave in the late 20's to 32, Incinerate & Greater Fire Sword at 35 & 38 and your APP selections at 41,44 & 47. I'd put Resist Energies at 49. Squeezing in Hasten would cost you (in my opinion) Fire Sword and your third APP selection. Is Hasten worth that trade? That's your call, I'd probably skip it myself and just make up the recharge with conventional slotting; CMA is Inv/Stone and has no difficulty with his attack chain without Hasten; my good attacks come back fast enough with my attack slotting.

I generally slot PBAOE attacks with 5 Scirocco's Dervish (all but the proc) and a common recharge IO. That ED caps damage & almost recharge with over 65% in accuracy... that slotting brings Fire Sword Circle back in a little over 10 seconds with no IO recharge bonuses. Combustion comes back in a little over 7 seconds. Hasten would cut roughly 2.5 seconds off of those times.