Jade_Dragon

Dunno about builds (I'm not into that Mids stuff...) but I think I can offer some advice:

1) Tactical Training: Manuevers. Take it, use it, love it. If you don't pick it up at level 10, go turn yourself over to Mako. And call him "fish face". You'll get what you deserve.

2) Wide Area Web Grenade is an incredibly useful tool for soloing. It can get you in trouble on teams, if you pay attention you should know what opening with an AoE Immobilize is considered around here. However, solo you are getting all the aggro anyway, so you might as well lock them down before they can come at you. On a team you can always wait until the team has grabbed all the aggro first.

3) I've found that the melee attacks are risky to use, but if you take both of them they can be enough to finish off a foe quickly. The best strategy, of course, is WAWG, followed by Venom Grenade, followed by Heavy Burst. Then you can start mopping up what is still standing. Again, on a team you'll want to wait until someone else grabs aggro first, but then go to town.

4) Be ready to run, and use your mobility. You've got some melee attacks, but think like a Blapper. While that 10% Def will keep you alive a little bit more than a Blaster, it's still not much compared to Fortification or the Bane's cloak and armor.

5) Of course, on a team of 4 other SoAs, that's a whole different story. Assuming they all have Manuever too, of course. In such a case, just wade into melee and go to town. Just watch for the lucky hits that get through, since that's all Def and you don't have any DDR. (But at low level you shouldn't be likely to need it. Unless you're SKing up in Cimerora)

So my advice is WAWG at 6, TT:M at 10, Venom Grenade at 12, pick up whatever attacks you can when available, and maybe something like either CT or CT:O, depending on your concept. (It's really that or pick up all three of the starting attacks)

I wonder why you would pick Energy if you are not going to use the melee attacks. The buffs are nice, of course, and there is Boost Range for keeping foes even further away from you, but you are still underutilizing the set.

Then again, it's a bit too late to change, or I would have recommended Devices or even Ice, as mentioned previously. You might decide to pick up Total Focus just to have a big "power attack" if something gets in melee. Yes, you have Hover, but there are always caves with low ceilings, foes with -Fly, or just the times when you turn a corner and blunder into a spawn.

The other good point about melee is that after using Siren's Song or Screech (or even better, both) that's a good point to dart in for a quick melee attack on the disoriented foe. You can then get out of range before he can recover. This is the strategy I use with my Blaster all the time, she has only the one main melee attack, but I use the Tesla Cage/Fire Sword combination with her all the time. Sure, a hold is better than a disorient, but the strategy should work just as well.

The good news is, in the lower levels ranged builds work just fine. It's not until the higher levels where you start to get foes that are tough enough to force their way into melee despite your best efforts. The Stun/Melee combo then becomes just a way to shorten the fight. (And sniper attacks can be pretty handy in that regard, too)

The technical answer is that because VEATs were ABLE to run the Patron arcs, just like all villains could, they were likely given the PPPs because it would not be justified to not give them the standard reward for running that mission arc.

Of course, that doesn't answer why the Kheldians aren't justified in recieving the same reward for running that same mission, arc, but there were different devs involved in making that decision than the devs who made this decision.

I'm still hoping that eventually a way of unlocking the Patrons will come over to hero side, and when that happens, with luck Kheldians will recieve the same benefit from doing it as everyone else.

APPs, however, were designed at the same time as Kheldians, and it was explained at their release that the Kheldian larger selection of powers was meant to get them all the way to 50, unlike the other ATs that only had a power selection to 40. (The cap at the time) VEATs are designed the same way. While they have access to PPPs, they do not need them, and have sufficient choices in their Primary and Secondary that they can easily avoid ever taking them.

Yeah, there is no way to overwrite your bio. However, the relevant bindfile to rewrite a macro is as follows:

goto_tray 3
macroslot 4 Bio "say This is the version of my character from Primal Earth"
goto_tray 1

Unfortunately, the macroslot command does not let you specify the tray, only the slot. However, you can have a tray for macros and use this command to fill it. So basically you can create a bindfile that, when you change costumes, it redefines all of your chat macros to fit your new "personality".

If you want to set keybinds you can set them to different chat commands, or you can create a keybind to activate a macro in the tray:

/bind m powexec_tray 3 4

The only drawback to this bind is that it won't work on slot 10. Niether 0 nor 10 seem to work. But it should work find with the other slots. And you can even use the goto_tray trick in order to use powexec_slot instead.

I've found the goto_tray command is fast enough that I don't even see the tray change. In practice this all seems to go on behind the scenes, even though I'm using my main tray to define macros. Of course, you would probably put the macros in a secondary tray above the main one or off to one side.

According to Paragon Wiki, you may also go to Cimerora (I suppose perpetual night in the present does not effect the past of Ancient Rome ) the Hive, or the Abyss (Hamidon apparently has the power to keep the ghoulies away too) if you want to see a little sunlight during this season.

As others have said, the official game description seems to be as follows:

Hero - More concerned about preserving innocent lives and protecting property than arresting bad guys. They will take in the villain if they can, but if they have to abandon that to save someone, they will. They tend to walk right into traps, with the attitude of, "I know it's a trap, but I'm pretty sure I can handle it."

Vigilante - Out to take out the bad guy at all costs. If this requires destroying property or even killing, they will do it. Innocent lives often have to be sacrificed to protect even MORE innocents. Often very vengeful, and dismissive of "heroes" that coddle villains or play politics when they should be stopping crime. (Their Villain arcs in the Rogue Isles are particularly harsh towards Longbow, possibly as payback for the hero side arcs where Longbow tried to take the Vigilante in for his "crimes")

Villain - Concerned only with personal power, keeping "lessers" in their place, and causing mayhem and destruction. I like the description that they are all about ego, even eventually destroying everything in order to ensure that they are in complete control.

Rogue - Wants money, the opportunity to make money, and to be left alone to spend money. Although he's not out to help people, he often does in order to get paid. Many of the Rogue missions revolve around destroying an artifact "so no one else gets it", or eliminating an evil force because "If they were in charge, I'd be out of business." The Rogue is really, more than the Hero, out to preserve the status quo. When challenged, the Rogue's usual response is, "Go for it. I'd rather not do this, but I really don't think you can take me."

Personally, I view Vigilantes as a little more "grey" than here. My Vigilantes would probably shift between Vigilante and Hero based on the circumstances of the mission. For instance, I'm sure none of my Vigilantes would kill, and few would sacrifice innocents if it looks rescuing hostages would put the villains' plan to rest anyway. Of my two main Vigilantes, one would never kill, but he would turn on a hero in an instant if he felt that "hero" was being corrupted by his power. The other would kill without a second thought, but would never sacrifice an innocent to do it.

I also have quite a few Rogues to are simply Rogues because they want to leave Arachnos. My Crab Spider, Arachnophelia is one of them. She has no loyalty to Arachnos, she just has an obsession with the arms. I've also got several villains that are infiltrating Arachnos, their true loyalty lies elsewhere, so they will be going Rogue. The fact that I want many of my villains to be able to come over blue side and team with friends is a major consideration too, above and beyond role playing.

On the other hand, Loopy Loup Garou, my werewolf, I think fits the Rogue mentality perfectly. He's not after money, that's not important, but he IS trying to clear his name for a crime he didn't commit, and he wants to be left alone to live the good life. That he has to "bust some heads" to do it he doesn't mind. And he definately has that "Bring it on" attitude. You make it personal, and it gets personal.

I think I will be making another villain a Rogue, even though she has a very evil personality, and admittedly so. She's more out to preserve the status quo, though, while she claims to be evil, she will often fight a greater evil so they don't interfere with her plans. She's also very conservative about power, while she seeks it, she's more about creating a strong foundation of power that will last, instead of just grabbing it all at once.

I don't find Brutes "relaxing". There's too much of a need to keep pushing forward, maintaining Fury. While it can be fun, I find it a little too fast paced for when I just want to play and kill things for ten or fifteen minutes or so.

I would suggest either a Tanker or Scrapper. I know folks complain about Tankers, but if your criteria is "relaxing" and not "speed", then I think they're fine. There's little to threaten a Tanker, you just wade into a spawn and begin wailing on it. As long as you slot your Endurance so you don't have to worry about it running out, you can keep going forever.

Scrappers are similar but more fragile. I'd also go with Masterminds, although again, relying on the AI to deal with threats and not micromanage with greatly reduce your capabilities. MMs are perfect for Trick or Treating, though. Just post them outside the door, click on it, and let them clean up. Talk about casual play.

While SoA can get pretty tough at higher levels, I find Wolf Spiders a bit too much like Blasters or Defenders in the early levels, and Widows are just plain fragile. You're going into melee with an AT that dies at the drop of a hat. Not that fun. If you can survive the climb to 24, though a Crab is pretty tough (I'd go with a pseudo-melee build with Fortification slotted out the wazoo) and from what I hear, Widows get a lot tougher after Mind Link and Foresight. (My Widow's not 24 yet, unfortunately, Crab is the only one I can speak from experience)

The same applies to Kheldians as well. Fragile getting up to 20, but once you have Dwarf form, you can go Human/Dwarf for a fairly relaxing meatshield build. There is the shapeshifting, but with a predominately Dwarf build you can keep that to a minimum. Warshades in particular will benefit from the -1/x3 difficulty.

Actually, for taking on huge crowds of foes that con green to you, a Dark/Dark Corruptor can be pretty solid and safe as well. Just walk into the group, drop Tar Patch and Darkest Night on them, open up with Tentacles and Night Fall, and watch them melt. If you take any damage, Twilight Grasp. I suggest Corruptor and not Defender because it'll have plenty of defense, but the Corruptor will provide the better damage.

In fact, I don't play my Dark/Dark so much these days because he began to get boring.

I begin slotting SOs at 25. While a see a lot of folks arguing about how +3 SOs are better than IOs, I don't usually have +3 SOs in all of my powers. I can't afford that any more than I can afford 2 mil inf IOs. So a large majority of my SOs are in the yellow.

If I HAVE a level 25 IO I can slot, I will slot it, for the convenience of knowing that I won't have to replace it again until I get into the 30s and can replace it with something that will ALWAYS be better than my SOs.

Actually, the truth is I will place any IO I happen to pick up. I have a crafter I email all my Recipes to, and then even if I'm 10 or 15 I will slot it. When I get to 22, though, I use a respec to cash in all the pre-25 IOs I have slotted and start over.

Of course, if the IO is useless to me (Stun on a character that has none, Range in anything but a Teleport power, or Intangibility) I'll discard it. And I won't buy an IO. SOs are much cheaper, and I'm not paying that much for a difference of just 5%.

IO Recipes are bought from the market, they do not have vendors. Although you can buy them with Merits from Merit Vendors.

Assuming you don't want to bother with crafting, the best thing is to just buy crafted IOs direct from the market.

Ghost Falcon in Peregrine Island should sell level 50 SOs along with levels 40 and 45. Also try the Rikti War Zone and Cimerora.

My Huntsman uses Ninja Run with his cape flapping in the breeze the whole time.

It's just to look dramatic. Now wings on a character that couldn't fly, that I might find iffy.

I don't. My main MM that relies on healing is my /Dark, and I select my pet by running up to stand next to him. My target is the foe.

I have found targetting more of an issue for my Ninjas/FF, though. Not really for bubbling, I just take each in order and recharge the shields as they wear off. However, I have a macro set up to select a specific target and hit him with Smoke Flash.

I expect this would be a bigger issue on Pain, and possibly Poison. For them I would probably set up a keybind thing, like part of the numberpad system to give them commands.

I honestly haven't seen a need for Masterminds to DO more damage.

Keep in mind that other AT damage usually follows a steady levelling curve, growing higher in increments as additional attacks are added to the selection. Once you have saturated your attack chain, it doesn't get THAT much higher, but you can still take stronger attacks to replace weaker attacks in the chain. (Particularly on those ATs that get attacks in their secondary)

MM damage goes up at 6, 12, 24, 26 and 32. With HUGE jumps at 12, 26 and 32. (There is also a jump at 22, as with all ATs, when SOs first become available. So the whole rise from 22 to 26 is very large) So the typical levelling curve doesn't apply. Masterminds gain damage very slowly from 1 to 22, and then from 22 to 50 they gain it very rapidly, eventually ending up at about the same place as other ATs.

"Oh, Wretched Man!", i.e., Seer Marino's Ghost Widow backstory arc. I do it every single time I start up a new villain character. The story is just awesome, with all the backstabbing, you literally being sentenced to death by the Arbiters, (although there's no real in game effect, I'd love to see an ambush or something) and the touching scenes of Paolo struggling to stay alive on waste, and Vetrano's spirit unable to move on because of her desire to comfort him.

Plus, there's just the dialog, Wretch going on about, "Wretch smash bad 'Rachnos!", and Ghost Widow's smug line to Ohanko, "But your end is coming soon; and it's name is <character>!"

"The Sky Raider Secret", 20-24 hero side mission. I first ran it on my Tanker, Blue Diamond, and it's one of the most vivid memories I have of the early game. It's also a backstory arc, explaining how the special unit Vigilance became the Sky Raiders, when Colonel Duray commandiered the unit's weapons and soldiers to fight against supers when he felt betrayed by them during the Rikti War.

You first save a general, then a politician who keeps wandering back into trouble. They and a hero, Captain Indomitable, were involved with Vigilance. You eventually get a mission to go and rescue Captain Indomitable himself, and I was expecting to get to meet another hero there and maybe even get to fight beside him. When I found his body and realized I was too late it really hit me. I literally screamed, "You're going to pay!" when I attacked the Boss at the end. Talk about getting into character.

"The Cult of the Shaper", Diviner Maros. While I hate Calystix with a passion (I have trouble with him with all my villains, but especially MMs) the room with the Leviathan in it gives me the willies every time I see it.

As for Frostfire, well honestly he bores me. Although I enjoy beating him up in the Vigilante Morality Mission.

I just posted the following in this thread: