Heraclea

The only changes I'd make to Stone Armor are purely cosmetic. I have a 50 stone tanker who doesn't get out much any more - mostly because playing on teams, I'll be in Granite most of the time, and the appearance of Granite bores me and erases my character's concept. The aesthetics of the other armors are not helping, either. I don't see this happening, and frankly I'd make adding emote support to Shields a higher priority.

Since it seems that 50% of defenders are Kinetics, and an even higher percentage of Controllers, so much so that you remember a defender or controller who isn't going to spam you with that annoying movement control debuff, the ability to remove the Granite movement penalty with buffs might be nerfed slightly. Used to be that one of the advantages of Stone Armor was that you could make the team wait for you, moving slowly and conning enemies first.

If you want to keep the concept, Fire Armor / Dark Melee has a lot more going for it than the other way around. Fire Armor is very dependent on its self heal, and as such needs a secondary with quick attacks and animations. Dark Melee not only has them (be careful of Shadow Maul, though), but it also gives you a second self-heal that is also an attack.

And visually, the smoky effects of the Dark attacks go very nicely with a Fire Armor set than the character wreathed with smoke that produces a series of flaming swords out of nowhere. It's easier to design a costume for the look of Fire Armor than of Dark Armor, too.

Dark/Fire probably is a hard road to hoe. The Fire secondary doesn't have any stuns or other secondary mitigation to play into Dark's strengths, which is control.

Also, Dark is different from other primaries. You really need to be turning toggles on and off based on your needs at the time. Use your self heal as an alpha strike.

I would:

- Get out of Super Speed and into Flight and Air Superiority. Fire is all damage, zero control. Air Superiority gives you something you are missing.

- Work in Cloak of Darkness. The defense you add helps.

- You don't have any stuns to stack with Oppressive Gloom, and by itself that is low mag and will not affect lieutenants or bosses immediately. I'd dump that and pick up Cloak of Fear as well. You won't need to six slot it either.

- The only advantage the Fire secondary has is its AoE and general damage. I'd plan on moving some slots out of your primary and into your attacks. Combustion in particular could be doing much more for you.

I've never tried a Dark/Fire, but I do have a Dark/Ice at 38. Not my favorite to play, but she is very useful for teams as a melee controller.

Steve Earle - Ashes to Ashes

Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter

Nina Simone - Sinnerman

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust

The Carter Family - God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign

My active scrappers:

Fire/Regen - 50
Martial Arts / Shields - next on the list
Broadsword/Willpower - on my second server, fairly old character
Dark Melee / Reflexes - created for MA, solo survivability project
Spines / Willpower - newest, long weekend project, currently 24, team survivability and light tanking project.

I think that as a secondary, Invulnerability is of mostly historical interest - i.e. you'd be daft or a completist to make one when Willpower and Shields are available. I know that my Invuln brute is semi-retired, and my old Invuln scrappers never went anywhere and all have been rerolled Willpower.

I am a big fan of some relatively rare primaries, especially Dark Melee, which works so well with Willpower, Shields, and Reflexes that I'm surprised there ain't more of them.

This is the build order and some of the sets I planned on ultimately getting:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Betsy Ross - Simple: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Spines
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Darkness Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Lunge -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(3), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Acc-I(43)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(5), Heal-I(15)
Level 2: Spine Burst -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(11), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(15), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Acc-I(42)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(7), Heal-I(7)
Level 6: Air Superiority -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(9), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(43), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Acc-I(50)
Level 8: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(9), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(11)
Level 12: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(48)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mrcl-Heal(17), DarkWD-Slow%(43), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(46), Taunt-I(48)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(19), Heal-I(19)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(23)
Level 24: Mind Over Body -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(25), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), ImpArm-ResDam(40)
Level 26: Ripper -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(27), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), Acc-I(39)
Level 28: Quills -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(29), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(29), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(34), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 30: Heightened Senses -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-Def/Rchg(31), GftotA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), GftotA-Def(40)
Level 32: Throw Spines -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(33), Posi-Dmg/Rng(33), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Acc-I(34)
Level 35: Impale -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(36), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), Acc-I(37)
Level 38: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 41: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(42), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), ImpArm-ResDam(46)
Level 44: Weave -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-EndRdx/Rchg(45), GftotA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), GftotA-Def(48)
Level 47: Strength of Will -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 49: Petrifying Gaze -- G'Wdw-Acc/Rchg(A), G'Wdw-Acc/EndRdx(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

One of my current projects is a Spines/Willpower scrapper. Spines, because I never tried it before; Willpower, because I know you can make a fairly tough scrapper that way. I had originally intended this scrapper to be a light tanking scrapper; even given the weakness of Willpower's aura, I know I can hold aggro if I need to with Spines.

Since I wanted a tough scrapper, I had originally intended to pick up Fighting pool somewhere down the line, usually late in the build instead of investing deeply in an ancillary pool. On the other hand, this scrapper so far is nowhere near the efficiency of my Fire or even Martial Arts or Broadsword scrappers at single target damage, and needs a team to excel.

So I started thinking: why not Leadership instead of Fighting? Leadership will not make me as tough as Tough and Weave will. On the other hand, the pool has an immediate payoff, and does not require that I take a crap power just to be in the pool. Maneuvers or Assault both have obvious payoffs. And I could go into Tactics and Vengeance, or instead go deeper into one of the epic pools, probably the Dark one. With Tactics, I might be able to remove one Accuracy from each attack, and replace it with an endurance reduction, and still have enough accuracy and endurance to get by with.

Has anyone else tried such a plan? Is it doomed, like everything else?

I enjoyed my Night Widow quite thoroughly, which is somewhat unusual, since generally I don't enjoy the redside content all that much. But that character levelled very quickly to 35, after which she rocketed to 50 in short order. The combination of being a fairly tough (although relatively low HP) melee DPS character with team buffs made it easy for me to find teams.

When Going Rogue goes live, she may cross over.

Back to bed for a while, I guess.

/EM already has looooong dry patches in your attack chain while you wait for Build Up - Energy Transfer - Total Focus to be ready once more. You tend to flail around ineffectually with the lesser attacks, but since so much of the damage in the set has been offloaded into the last two, they tend to be quite inefficient. On top of that, you're Stone Armor, very endurance inefficient outside of Granite, and in Granite it's mostly a matter of forced savings.

I'd just take Conserve Power and concentrate on taking enough attacks from your secondary that you have an adequate filler chain in Granite that at least gives you a button to push every now and then while you're waiting.

So long as there are minions as well as the AV around the DM tanker, that tanker can periodically recharge endurance as well as keeping AAO saturated. The shield tanker is debuffing damage and the dark melee is debuffing tohit as well, which also make the enterprise more sustainable.

The problem is, you're periodically going to need to damage your helper minions with Soul Drain and Dark Consumption. While I haven't seen the videos, I'll wager they're done on outdoor maps, and periodically the AV is dragged to a fresh spawn.

Be well, Coz. Hope to see you back sometime, if only just to drop in.

I strongly recommend that you not skip Fitness, or even postpone it all that much. I always plan on my Willpower characters having Fitness, and on most of them plan on getting Stamina at 20 or 22.

This works because the two purely defensive toggles - Mind over Body and Heightened Senses - are more burden than benefit before SO levels anyways. You're already going to be running two toggles anyways. Passive powers that help you get there first (Swift or Hurdle) and that play to your regeneration strength (Health) are far more important than two more draining toggles that do little more than their base values to improve your survivability.

Since you know you should have Health, and you have to take Swift or Hurdle to get it, it makes sense to plan on picking up Stamina sometime, even if you are more patient with the broken endurance mechanic than I am. Take the two toggles after 22, and aim for Stamina at 20 like any other character would. I have levelled up five tankers, two brutes and a scrapper under these assumptions. I was not squishier in the late teens and I had more fun than I would have trying to run four toggles.

Yes, the Fitness pool is boring. But the endurance mechanic is more boring. Once you win free of it you will enjoy your character much more.

If you don't want a destructible object, but do have an indoor map and a "back" objective, you can set a standard patrol of the level range you want set to "front" that appears when your real objective has been found and dealt with.

A patrol will invoke the level limit on the mission. But since a patrol cannot be set as an objective, and this one will appear well out of sight once the real objective has been dealt with, it serves the same purpose as invisible mobs.

I've got a 45 shield tanker (semi-scrapper) that'd benefit fairly strongly from a LGTF, and tankers, scrappers, blasters, brutes, and widows that would be happy just to have the merits. If I get on by 8:30 I'll snoop around.

[ QUOTE ]
It's a similar problem to doing too much with all of the environmental issues. It's far too easy to turn a story into a 'industry bad, nature good' kind of thing where we're all pushed into self loathing for enjoying a morning latte on the way to work. That's the kind of thing that turns people off...

[/ QUOTE ]

The solution, of course, is to write one that embodies your point of view.

It is possible to make more complicated versions of the same fairly interesting. This is one of the reasons that Princess Mononoke stands head and shoulders above, say, Bakshi's Wizards. When I first saw Princess Mononoke, my first thought was, "what a train wreck this would have been if Disney had done it for Americans."

On the other hand, the narrative structure of MA gives you few options other than setting up an enemy and solving the problem they pose by beating them up. This is one of the reasons why I'm still angry over the loss of my best story, Monstrous Regiment of Lesbian Hellions. Lesbian Hellions was both funny and complex. It turned out that the "victims" didn't really mind much at all. This will be explored at further length in the forthcoming sequel - but that will not be subtle at all.

What bums me most about this is that I made a character for whom having the "Bard" badge was important to the concept. Now that's broken.

Some escorts can take damage without being able to attack. This is the Pacifist setting IIRC. Apart from that, no. They'll follow you everywhere and enemies will ignore them.

I don't know what happens if an escort gets into a spot like an Oranbega pond where it can't get out. I suspect at that point you just have to abandon the arc.

Regen becomes fun a lot faster, due mostly to Quick Recovery at level 4 as opposed to 20.

After 22, when both ought to have QR, Stamina, and SO's, Willpower turns into great, worry-free fun, while Regen must constantly be on guard against misfortunes like lag and bad animations.

Once Tough and Weave are in play, Regen can relax a little - and Willpower becomes like Achilles after his bath in the Styx. A Regen will be constantly nervous under the Roman bridge, never certain of which click powers are really available for him. A Willpower will not be troubled as she walks through that valley.

I have Dark Regen slotted with three different brands of relatively low level Heal/Recharge buttons, one Heal/Endredux, a straight endredux and an accuracy. I think one of the Heal/Recharge and the Heal/Endredux are both Touch of the Nictus, not certain.

I usually use it as my own alpha. Ticks them off nicely, even if it has to be timed with some precision, and without it I might play like a low level Willpower tanker.

Mine is built for pure team support, a Dark/Ice melee controller. Since I don't have other stuns in my attacks, I have not yet taken OG at level 38. The character can do fairly marvellous things with some useful buffs - i.e. other than kinetics - but is still not much fun to solo, so I don't try. Since this is a team tanker, and I can hope to be supported by a team as well as supporting one, I may skip fighting pool in favor of presence pool for more fears. Right now it looks like she may ride the ITF to 50, and is my favorite tanker for fighting Romans in a team with.

The things that I chiefly use tickets for are indeed buying SOs, especially during the period before level 32, when a SO is superior to any simple IO you can equip. After 32 and especially after 35, your character can do more things in PvE, and levelling in the MA becomes proportionally slower.

The other thing I get with tickets are rare and uncommon salvage which can be made to order.

I am of a disposition that makes me not fond of rolling for anything. The many times something worthless comes down the pipe loom large in memory.

My "Who is Kidnapping the World's Great Philosophers" (86347) is a moral allegory, something I haven't seen anyone else try. Its cartoony orcs and elves are there to remind you of what happens when you let market gougers have their way. The souvenir is an explanation of why "buy low, sell high" is inconsistent with the Golden Rule.

Still, I've been told that the end boss is the most terrifying yet encountered.

No reason to go without them: they're free, there's no penalty for having them other than finding space on an attack bar for them, and if you never want to use them you don't gotta.

I take Sands of Mu on any character who doesn't have Dark Melee, where it's redundant. Ghost Slaying Axe on Dark Melee characters.

Yes. I have used the program in all of its versions for quite some time ever since returning to the game at around i9. His contributions have been vital. I hope that he is able to remain as a player if not as a developer.

Just a heads up - I intend to be pulling this sometime during the first week of June. I thought it was pretty good, myself - but it is a very long challenge oriented arc with archvillains, and as such probably never going to be all that popular.

So if you want to check it out, please feel free to do so within the next couple of weeks.

What I have planned to replace this is a sequel to my most popular and controversial story ....