Fire_Minded

Im soo going to get Flak for this..but...theres 3 builds that come to mind when it comes to outright damage and survivability for a Defender....(In my eyes atleast)

Traps/Elec #1

Traps/Dark #2 (Wicked fun)

Rad/Rad #3

This is my personal opinion with exp added playing these builds.

Never mind...I quickly and easly forget that people ignore issues that happen alot more then they realize due to lack of paying attention,or not caring,and yeh,i guess i do ask for these issues when i ask the stupidest question in the game..."Why?"

Guess im the only one who notices the teaming issues,or lack there of in Freedom...odds are,you guys that just posted are in a SG,and dont have teaming issues.

Side note...by odd quincidence.....i look alot like "The guy on the left."

Iv been running into some pretty funny stuff since iv been back to this game,one of which happened just today.

I was playing my Elec/Elec Tanker,because it seems like a good pairing,good AoE,somewhat negotable ST damage,and i was on a team,and people where talking about the powers they wanna pick for there builds at higher levels,granted,this was the first team iv been on in 4 days,because everyones a AE Farming addict,i decided to chime in.

I was like "yeh,i cant wait till higher levels with this tank,ill shine like a pearl in a team.",and not surprising,i got laughed at,maybe i was just asking for it,who knows?

I was told by 1 player,that i shoulda rolled a Invln/EM,that my tanker is going to be passed up for another because of my sets.I found that kinda frustrating,and then another chimes in telling me that any Scrapper will be able to out kill me,and most other tankers will be able to do the same.This frustrated me even more...So,i asked a smart question...."Do either of you play a Elec/Elec Tanker?Or have you even seen one in action?" there reply was pretty much no,that they wouldnt be caught dead trying to play those sets,and that they have a "Friend" that erased a lvl 40 Elec/Elec Tanker...which is funny...cause in all situations like this...someones "Always" has a friend that did it,and they have no way to prove it.

Getting more frustrated,i said "Ok,what makes you think this builds going to be horrible and that other tankers and scrappers will be taking care of the mobs?" one of them relpied with "your build is like making a mage in WoW,and telling them to just make water and food in a corner somewhere...worthless."

That by no means answered my question,it just went further to insult my choice,so,i tried a diffrent wording/phrasing of the question..."What makes you think,with Lightning Rod,Thunder Strike,Chain induction,Lightning Feild,and even a well aimed Jaccobs Ladder,that id be worthless compaired to any other tanker build?" ..no repsonse was givin to this,and we went on to continue this mission,until maybe 5 minutes went by,and this time,the other tanker on the team chimmed in,and simply said "Because your power sets suck,go make a real tanker.".....Typical of a Invln/Mace Tanker from what im seeing..convinced there Invln/ is the best set out there.

This time,i didnt asnwer...i decided...ok...we are on a lvl 14 Troll mission,and its half done....the team is lvl 11,lets see how well they do without my help....so i stood there for a moment,we where staring down the barrel of the next mob,instead of running in like iv been doing,to take the alpha...with the other tanker following right behind me no less...and let him put his money where his mouth was....in this team of 8,i let him run in first...i hung back,took a few steps back,and the team jumped in after the tanker,and surprise surprise....Controller compairing me to a WoW mage that casts food and water spells ....dies...the tanker...dies right after him...then the team starts to drop...one by one.....and i didnt go in to help them.

I simply said "You know,your totally right,my power sets are just horrible..but your the one dead without them...",and i left the team,and happly logged off.

The issues im having in this game are becomming very broad...and most of it is because of ignnorance from other players,they are ignorant about the power sets,they are ignorant about the way a team works,they belive they are smarter then everyone else,and theres always a following of one moron following another.

The main issue here,that made me the better tanker then the before mentioned Invln/Mace tanker,is that he only took Dull Pain and temp Invulnerability...the rest where attacks,and Hasten....he effectivly was building like a scranker...no Taunt,no Taunting Aura.....i very commonly ID everyone i team with,to see who may need more help then the others,and i try to keep them alive by watching there agro vs my own,and it works pretty well.

I happened to have all Armor Toggles for my Tanker,as well as Taunt,as well as lightning field.I was grabbing alot of agro,i only had jaccobs ladder and charged brawl to fight with.Thats why i succeeded,where the other tanker failed.

The bottom line is...it doesnt matter what you choose,if you play it right,your golden...but im tired of people who belive that what everyone else tells them is great,is the best there is...that guy that was on a invln/mace tanker,should have picked FA/ or something with a heal clicky because he wants to play like a scrapper.

Was i wrong to teach a team a lesson?

Ok,iv been gone a few months due to life,but now im back,and im surprised at many things in this game.

I play the Freedom server,which has been my native server since the release of CoX,and theres barly anyone anywhere.....except inside the AE buildings and under the Atlas statue.Its so crowded mainly in those 2 places,that I cant even move,i start to lose map server just going by these places,thats how packed they are.

There where a couple times where i lost map server running by the AE building in Atlas,and tried over 10 times to loggin that character before giving up and trying to loggin later,when i assumed less people would be on.The same happened right after i made a new character the day before,i couldnt loggin because the costume contest that was going on knocked me out of the game before i even logged in.

I was thinking that with this many people clogging Atlas,that surely there would be people wanting to team "Outside" Atlas....right?.....WRONG!

I personally play 2-3 hours a day to relax from my day,and i half way exspect to be able to team with a group of people that wanna make a team to do missions,any PUG would do,because normally i play the role of any AT i jump on admirably.(I hate deaths,so i use the ATS strengths,and allow someone else,like the Tanker,or Ect,to do there jobs)

The problem is,i can go that 2-3 hours,and not find a team to join,half the time i cant find anyone wanting to team unless its AE or a Farm,and i am not interested in a Farm at all.

So i thought id be smart,and snoop around for a SG that doesnt farm,i spammed the request for a none AE or Farming SG in Atlas for about 30 minutes,because i figured,maybe a SG would wanna have people that acctaully look for a team within,around each other,but,after 30 minutes,i was directed to a player who was the head of a SG i was told is like the one im looking for.

I messaged this person,and indeed,that person was on,and there was no answer....so i waited about 10 minutes,and said "Hello?You there?",and still,no response,so,i waited another 10 minutes,and sent the message again,and this time,i got a answer."Yeh,im messing with Mids,whatsup?"

At this point,i was like "Ok",i have his attention now,and i asked him if his SG gathers to actively to team like someone else told me when they suggjested i message him.

This guy told me no,that he Farms,and i just "Assumed",he ment that he has like a Farming Toon for Influence purposes,so thats what i said i understood,he stops me and tells me that he farms toons from lvl 1-50,and everyone else in his SG does,and more then half of his members dont leave Atlas till they hit level 50 on any givin toon,so they dont team much outside Atlas.

Im not going to say who the leader was,or the SG im describing over the Forums,it would be in bad form,but,all i can say is that im surprised.....

I could sit here and toss out some ideas for what they could do with AE,and make the game playable again,to where people dont get lazy,and fat without leaving Atlas.Its almost like this video game has its own addiction on virtual reality...which would be AE.

I acctually like the idea of AE...but i dont agree that it should be worth Exp.....If you removed that asspect of AE,leave the tickets,the influence,and everything else BUT the Exp...players would be forced to ...gee...i dunno... Leave Atlas and acctually have to travel for there levels?Maybe have to team if they cant do it all them selves?Hmmmmm....i like that,however,thats not likly to happen,so....i wanna know if there is a SG in Freedom?Or am i going to have to spend extra time making one for those who wanna be able to find a team when they want to?

The only thing you did wrong was pick Invln/ as a Armor set for a Tanker.

Iv decided on a TA/Archery Defender...next up....a /Trap Corr,but im avioding AR/ due to my Blaster uses it....same thing with Archery,Defender uses it.I may end up using Elcetrical Blasts,or Energy Blasts on the Corr,cause you can pass both of those off as Techy...any other suggjestions?

Oh,i almost forgot,i made a 8 foot tall robot with the Cyborg pack costume parts.Its a Elec/Elec Tanker.....i was able to aviod shield again!YAY!

Electricity seems techy to me atleast. :P and /EM would have been nice too,but,ill do that for some other build.

Yeh,/AR did dawn on me too when it came to a tech Defender,but,if you noted from the before mentioned Blaster iv already got,its already got AR/,i dont wanna take it twice.

Im thinking possibly Traps/Psi from my Defender to be honest.If anyone ever played the game "X-Com",you could use a technological gadget example from that game called a "Psi-Amp".

Stolen Alien Technology that allows you to Ampliphy the waves in your brain for Control,or Harming,and the only thing required is that you have even the slightest Psychic spark to latch it onto.


So i think im going to take the Psi-Amp version to make it Techy.

The Controller,and the Dominator,im a bit hard pressed for what could make them Natural or Techy.

The Corr may not be so hard to figure out.Prolly something to do with Kinetics,or Sonic,ect,whatever can be exsplained away that isnt too outlandish.

Even though i swore id never use it...ill prolly be taking Shields for a Tanker.As for the melee portion of it,id really like to aviod taking Axe,or mace.Any suggjestions?

The Brute,well,he is going to be all Physical,and all Natural Origin.Im going to use is Rage and Anger issues as a exsplination for SS/WP.Iv seen some people do some crazy stuff,and lift some unliftable things in real life due to unctrollable anger,or adreniline,but,this too,we shall see.

Well,im somewhat bored with alot of the super powers for the game,but,iv found something i seem to enjoy very highly when it comes to selecting the power sets.

Iv made a Kat/WP Scrapper,and with the Ninja Pack makes it very easy to pull off a none super powered travel power.It themes the Natural Origined Scrapper,and i see that as well...exciting.

I made a new Blaster,an AR/Dev,and im going to take it the Tech Origin Route,give it hover and fly,and give it those Jet Boots,as well as other Techy Schemed costume pieces,and the Cyborg Pack doesnt hurt either.

I guess what im wanting to do,is make 1 of every AT Hero Side,and 1 of each Villian Side,but i want only Tech and Natural Origins,that have the feel of being "Human".

To me,iv always favored the normal hero or villain that trains really hard,or uses technology to fight.They had to try harder then all the rest,and i like how that feels in this game.To be human,and challenge those who would be born,or granted,or cursed with a mystical,or obseenly powerful physical mutation.

Im looking to create diffrent Power Set mixes for all the ATs,to have 1 of each,Tech,or Natural...any suggjestions?

Iv got a Blaster,and a Scrapper,thats it.I could use some options.

Holy hell dude...slow down on the caffine!LOL!

Anyhow,i may have a suggjestion to help you out when it comes to a controller type.From what im gathering about you,and your Limitations on what youll play,id say go for a Ice Control/Storm Controller,or possibly take Earth Control/ with say.....Radiant Aura?

The Advantages of Earth/Rad for a controler would be pretty sizeable...considering it would be a complete beast in a team,or in solo play.

Ice/Storm would be a slow rise to power,but at later levels,youd rip mobs up,in or out of a team.

Ill also assure you,that if you really dont wanna deal a whole lot with a pet,or pets...you really dont have to take the Animate Stone power for Earth Control,as Rad being your secondary and buffer...youll never stop firing off your primary attacks anyhow.(assuming you know the easy trick of perma AM and Hasten due to the Rad's buffs,not to mention nearly endless endurance and the fastest AoE heal in the game.)

The Animate Stone power would be just a additional damage perk,and since its way more durable then fire imps,and theres only one that can be called at a time,itll be upto you to buy into that power,or simply pass it up,and by the sounds of it,you wouldnt worry about taking it anyhow.

Now,im exspressing the ease,and power potential of the Earth/Rad build to you a little,due to the factor,you seem to enjoy speed and damage.(Who doesnt?!)

The Ice/Storm build i also suggjested is a bit diffrent then the other one..its got alot of effects,with all the Slows,and knock backs,and knock downs,its pretty much a good fun set,but not nearly as fast as a quick killer,especially at lower levels,but,the saving grace at later levels is mainly the Lightning Storm,Hurricane,Tornado,and just like the other controller build,you can skip the Ice Elemental power if it doesnt fit your playing style.

However,buying into the pet for a Ice/Storm controller might be more benificial then if you didnt....and keep in mind,its not hard to control a single pet...that will follow you and fight till the death.

I hope this helped.

Im curious about Devices,its been the only secondary iv ever liked on a Blaster,but is there a possibility to soft cap this power with all the IO enhancers now days?

And if so,that would be great,because i would really like to make a ?Dev Blaster for this account...Primary Blast set hasnt been chosen yet,but thats another issue in its self.

I want to get the most bang for my buck when it comes to the Cloaking Device,in terms of stealth,and from the numbers,this power is the second strongest stealth power in the game...first being a Stalkers Stealth.Knowing veagly about how IOs work,im pretty sure adding a stealth IO into this power will make it fun to play with in PvP.

The maximizing Def % is the next challenge...without throwing a complete Mids Build at me...anyone have a exsplainable alternative to getting what i want out of this set?

I do think dual Blades would be a fun melee set to play on a Stalker...my issue with it,is the factor of hitting combos to do anything..i dont find that fun...or very helpful to a AT,thats primary goal in attacking,is hitting and running...who the hell wants to think about there attack chain and pray they dont miss once and mess it up?not me..

Well,i had the pvp scrapper issue as well recently,and iv settled with a Broad Sword/Willpower Scrapper.

I went ahead and bought the Ninja pack for the run,which by the way,is totally managable,high enough jumping,and way easier to control the super speed,but still capable of out flanking other players in pvp in movement.(Turning on a dime is more helpful then youd think.)

It doesnt hurt that hurdle and switness amp its ability considerably!(Tested and greatfully found to be awsome!)

The bottom line is,that i plan on using the slowness of the swings from broad sword to do short hit and runs on my opponent...which will cut down on the pvp degridation of long standing combat considerably...and because of how hard ill hit,hitting and running might be a huge advantage.

heres a silly question..would a claws/dark armor brute be any better?i mean with spin and what not,and lower end usage on attacks?

I cant figure out a Brute to build and play,i may end up with either SM/ or SS/ as a primary,but does the secondary even really matter for a brute?They all seem...well...underperforming in one massive way or another.I guess this can be said about all ATs and there armor sets.

Im trying to make 1 of every AT,hero side and villain side,and play them till lvl 50,not concerned with alts,however,funtionality and fun factor come into play.

So far iv only come up with 2 AT mixes that i like alot.A Electric Armor/Ice Melee Tanker,and a Traps/Elec Blast Defender.The rest im having issues with deciding on,so i need some input from the SMASH community on this one.I have odd tastes when it comes to power combos,but,i think ill go with the before mentioned SM/ or SS/ as a primary on this build....just seems to have that Brute feel for me,with the Ka-POW! and CRUNCH! effects and sounds they give.

Personally,i dont see the reason why all ranged ATs ...hero or villain,should get access to all the blast sets that the other can.I see that as a bit pointless.

That would be like giving Brutes and Scrappers Ice Melee,when its exclusive to Tankers only,and frankly,thats the main reason why im drawn to ice melee...becuase its for Tankers only.

I dont agree that Corrs should get Psi of any kind,and i dissagree with brutes getting Claws,and Blasters getting Psi and Archery for that matter,and i definatly dont agree with giving defenders Fire Blasts,which would be fun as hell,but wouldnt be fair to the classes that already have it exclusivly...like blasters and corrs.It wouldnt feel right on a defender.It would only piss off what you hit it with if a fireball came from a defender,its on Corrs and Blasters mainly because they can do DAMAGE.From high damage on Blasters to Scourge on Corrs.

Scrappers went from being mainly melee weapons and hand to hand power sets,to getting lightning,fire,and Armor of the same types?Whats the point in that?I feel with every poliferation of the ATs,we gradually lose an ATs individuality.

I would honestly say stop Poliforation,and invent new sets for the ATs,to allow them to keep something special,simply for them.

While i do understand the drawbacks of Ice Melee,i plan on going the most exspensive route possible for IOs..which would be damage % IOs,as for lightning armor,yeh,in many respects its not so great,but so far,even at lower levels,i take the alpha just fine.topple that with the factor that recharge will come into the IO build as well (global recharge),added with Hasten,and Lightning reflexes,i may acctually do alot more damage due to recharge times.

Spamming back to back ice aura's might prove a bit damaging...it has a fast stomp animation,and moderate damage,but if you trigger it every few seconds,as fast as possible,and have damage boosting IOs,i think itll be fine...theres alot to be said about the recharge of a power.....atleast thats how ill deal with the damage issues of a low damage set...pump up its recharge speed to keep up with other sets.

Well,iv decided on a tanker that ill start out the account with..finally.

Im going with a Elec/Ice Melee Tanker.For seome reason it just looks like it would be a decent combo on paper,and it doesnt hurt the Storm Ninja theme im giving it.

Any opinions on the matter?

i agree,it sure does!

Stone/Dark it is!

Me ask,you answer!

Just curious why this builds a build that iv heard over the last couple years as the NEVER MAKE OR PLAY IT build?

Hmmmm,Stone/Dark you say?

Devices?Traps?Any of this ringin a bell to cut down on the worry of a "busy" and "Redraw" issue?

Title says it all.

well,im planning on making a plant/thorn dom,simply on fun factor,iv had a plant/rad controller in the past,and it was completly fun,and i have played a spines scrapper to higher levels before,and it was fun enough.

i have yet to see anyone playing a plant/thorn dom,is it as fun as i think itll be?

What would be a fun Brute to play?not worrying about anything other then fun factor?

Kinda of a ambiguos question i know,but,what im asking,is what would be a interesting and possibly fun Brute to play?without thinking of terms of min/maxing,or whats the best or worste sets,what would be fun?