Jade_Dragon

Welcome to City of Heroes, the home of altitis. You will always find newbies here to team with. And even high level groups aren't so bad to join, given the Sidekick system.

I will say that it is probably still best to solo from levels 1 to 10. You can probably do that in a day, though, and I just do it because it's easier. You might be able to find an SG that often starts new characters together and levels them up through the early levels. Or even get a PuG if that's what you enjoy.

Honestly, whether you solo or group, from 1 to 10 your experience and power picks should be pretty much the same. Wait until 10 to 20 to start working on your team role.

(BTW, just to give you an idea of the numbers, I have 17 main alts, all over level 30. Overall the number of characters I actually play, of whatever level, is probably around 30 or more. I have at least 12 characters on both Virtue and Pinnacle)

I have a favorite story I love to share about my Tanker Blue Diamond. This was in the very earliest days of the game, so I was running around for the first time in King's Row, after getting to about level 10. So definately a newbie. I had seen enough of the Vahzilok to understand what they were about, and I had seen the animations where the Reapers lean over the body of a "victim" as their idle animation.

Anyway, I come around a corner, and another hero is fighting valiantly against the horrid and disturbing zombies and their mad doctor keepers. I stand back because I don't want to kill steal, but I take a look at his HP, and he's failing fast. I consider jumping in to help, but it's already too late. He falls at his attackers' feet.

At which time, I swear, the nearest Reaper goes into his idle animation, crouching OVER THE HERO'S BODY, and pulling out his cleaver to begin hacking limbs off. The player had probably respawned at that point, but the image was already in my head, and I couldn't get it out.

I yelled out, "THAT'S JUST NOT RIGHT!" and charged at the Vahz. Several minutes later, I had wiped them all out. Maybe I was too late to save the hapless hero, but I was going to get his revenge for him.

I have yet to see anything like that happen again, and in fact it may have been a glitch with an unintended animation. But it got such an intense reaction out of me I remember it quite vividly to this day. And Blue Diamond always attacks Vahzilok on sight. (He even has the Gravedigger badge)

Rad can be a huge hassle if not paired with a Primary that grants you lots of damage. It's fast, sure, but that means it is also low DPS.

I will agree, though, that for what it is best at, it is the best at it. Cosmic Burst is a great attack, and "Photon Torpedoes away!" Photon Volley just looks cool. If we could still trade an extra slot of Damage for one of Accuracy I'd call it perfect.

I have suggested just listing the level as (for instance) 10.4. Never mind the bubs, just show the level in tenths.

BTW, this is how I list them in a spreadsheet, just so I do know this when I go about choosing which alt to play.

Let's see, I think these are the big ones, from me or anyone else:

1) How do Preatorians prior to 20 (Loyalists and Resistance) fit into the Hero/Villain opposition? Do they go to Wentworths or the Black Market? Do they join Super Groups or Villain Groups? Which side are they on in PvP?

2) After they leave Preatoria at 20, will they be stuck with this choice depending on what side they choose? How does this effect the previous question? Will this ultimately effect which Ancillary/Patron they get? Which "mutually exclusive" Accolades they get? Do they get access to all three "cities", or only two?

3) Will Heroes or Villains that switch sides lose access to their Ancillary/Patron? Will there be new Pools for the other side? If not, how do Villains do their Patron missions from the Hero side?

4) Are Vigilantes/Rogues with access to both sides barred from entering PvP zones from one side or the other? Or does that determine what side they're on in the zone?

5) What are the incentives to stay a Hero/Villain, and do you get them back if you switch sides and then switch back? Are the Epic ATs one such incentive? Can you unlock both side's Epic ATs with one character?

And I've got another for myself:

6) Will it be (eventually) possible to create Defenders/Controllers with Pain Domination, or Corruptors/Masterminds with Empathy, if they are created in Preatoria? For that matter, is it acceptable to the devs for Pain Domination or Empathy to switch sides, since the concept of Pain Domination was that villains cannot have Empathy?

I wouldn't swear to this (might swear at it) but I believe XP does equal influence. I personally have seen twice the XP as influence lately, but I'm quite sure that's because of Patrol XP. (That is, I get double XP due to the Patrol, but it doesn't increase you Influence) Since I run on various difficulties from +1/2x to +2/1x, I'd say that its the same across all difficulties.

A macro can execute any number of chat binds and toggle drops, and one emote and/or costume change. It may activate one power. However, a second power can be placed on "auto", to be queued up to activate immediately after the first goes off.

/macro F "powexec_toggleon Fly$$powexec_auto Air Superiority"

This will turn on Fly, and put Air Superiority on auto, causing it to activate automatically the moment you got in melee. It would continue to activate until you turned off the auto by using the command "powexec_abort". (I believe this is bound to your Z key)

The icon will appear with a green ring around it. You can also set auto, or unset it, by holding Control and clicking the icon. I believe that only click powers can be set on auto, though, toggle powers cannot, so your Fly/Stealth combination wouldn't work.

Here's an alternative that will work, but you'll have to press the key twice:

/macro F "powexec_toggleon Fly$$powexec_toggleon Stealth"

The first time you press the F key, you will go into Stealth, doing the disappearing animation. Then when you press it again, you will fly. I actually use a bind like this all the time for my genie character, she turns into air, and then floats around as a human shaped cloud. I use stealth to represent that.

You will need a key to turn it off, though:

/macro G "powexec_toggleoff Fly$$powexec_toggleoff Stealth"

As I mentioned above, you can toggle OFF any number of powers at the same time, so it would turn them both off with the press of the G key. If only one was on, that would be the one turned off. Note "powexec_name" toggles off a power that is on, and on when it is off, so if you used the "powexec_name" command with the F macro above it would switch back and forth between Fly and Stealth. (Stealth would come on first, since it is the last command in the list, then with the next press Fly would toggle on and Stealth would toggle off)

If you combine a costume change with a power, your costume will change right before the animation goes off. (Which can be annoying if you trying to make the costume change DURING the animation) If you use a costume change emote ("cce 1 ccsalute" for example) the animation for the power will play INSTEAD of the costume change, but it will be delayed until the costume change animation WOULD have finished. (This should be fine for Salute, but I notice when I try to use a Kheldian explosion and take off flying, my costume doesn't change for a LONG time.

Probably the best way at present to mix costume changes and powers is as follows:

/macro F "em none$$powexec_toggleon Fly$$cce 1 ccprestochangeo"

This is an AWESOME transformation, by the way. For some reason, the "em none" overrides the fly animation, and the Presto Changeo animation plays as you take off. Half the time it doesn't work, and you "bounce" into the air and back to the ground before putting your arms in the air to change costume. But about half the time you hang in the air as you change in a puff of smoke, and landing the animation seems to always work perfectly. (Then again, the "em none" shouldn't be needed since there is no animation associate with a toggleoff)

Don't forget also that you have new punching attacks in Super Strength that are different from the originals. You may find they fit your concept better.

I know many people say Willpower is a better invulnerability than Invulnerability, but I find that between the lower defense numbers, which result in you taking more damage before healing it back up with RTTC, and the lack of strong taunt effect, it doesn't fit what I think of as that Superman feel. Invincibility, to me, fits the idea of him being fast and agile as well as bulletproof, while the Psi hole is kind of like Supes' weakness to magic. I do wonder what it is Superman would ever be afraid of, but you can get some Fear resistance IOs so at least it doesn't last that long.

And I've found the Slow resistance and Energy Drain resistance do make for a closer concept too. I'm not as much immovable as unstoppable.

Then again, my Superman clone has strong doses of The Thing and The Hulk as well, so the more "brawny" punches fit him.

If you want to deal damage and (ALMOST) tank, you want a Scrapper or Brute. Tankers are not about putting up the greatest red numbers above the foes. If you've got to be the primary source of damage for your team, then you probably won't be happy with a Tanker.

The short answer is, if could deal damage like a Scrapper, you'd faceplant like one. A Tanker may not deal the big numbers, but he DOES contribute to the damage, and more importantly, he keeps foes off his allies. And Gauntlet is the vast majority of that, which means that while you may not be doing the greatest damage, every punch you throw DOES help the team. You don't want to stand there like a bump taking damage, holding aggro is an active job, and your team will appreciate you doing it.

Maybe some advice will help. First off, I don't know how you're missing 50% of the time (at most you should miss 25% of the time) but slotting your attacks for Accuracy can help. Even at the low levels, when you get a bonus to hit (up to 90% at really low levels) it can still help to slot as much Accuracy TOs in your attacks as you can. Don't worry about Damage, that's negligible at that level, but Accuracy will go a long way towards preserving your sanity, if not actually giving you any significant improvement.

Second, unlike the Brutes and Scrappers, you have less choices of attacks at low levels. While they're taking attacks, you're opening up defenses. If you want to deal damage, or even just hold aggro, grab up every attack you can the moment it opens up. You can always go back and get the shields after level 22, when you can slot them with SOs and they'll do MUCH more good. Remember that in general, Tanker attacks are slower but deal more damage per hit than Scrappers. You won't take out your foes any faster, but you CAN get those high red numbers -- when you get up in the 30s and those final attacks start opening up.

Third, I'll repeat some advise from the previous posters. If you're fighting purples, understand that's likely why you are missing and slot accordingly. (If you're low level, being PLed by highbies, just live with it. Maybe stock up on Insights) Firey Aura and Shield Defense have high damage and lower defense, making for a more Scrapper-like feel. (Super Strength and Stone Melee also do lots of damage, but as I said it'll really be the 30s before you feel it, while damage-oriented Primaries give better results early on. Also, Willpower is known for its offense, not because of a damage boost, but because it has Quick Recovery)

And finally, if you want to pick a Scrapper, and build for really strong defenses, you should be able to get the ability to take damage like you want, and deal damage. But understand, without Gauntlet or a Brute's ability to punchvoke, you won't hold aggro for your team anywhere like a Tanker can. If you want to tank, tank, if you don't, then don't think that you can do both. Even a Brute can't tank like a Tanker can.

Well, I don't usually look at Mids so I can't see what's wrong with your slotting. And in all honestly, I'm not the person to ask for advice on that stuff anyway. However, I might be able to give you an overview that might (just might, I'm not really sure what your playing style is) help you play Rad a little better.

First of all, as with all debuffing Defenders, the strength of the character is in preparing the battle field, and keeping your foes clustered and under your control. You can't just go in blasting like, well, a Blaster. In all honestly, I've only ever played Rad Emission as a Secondary, on a Controller, so I'm not sure what you would do in the absense of holds to keep foes locked in the Enervating Field. Rad Blast is not a control-heavy set, although it is very good at stunning and blasting a SINGLE target.

I would guess Lingering Radiation is the best place to start. The aggro drawn by the anchored debuffs help as well. It might help to circle around foes to herd them into a group. Electron Haze may also help keep foes off their feet and knock them back into the center. In a group, of course, if you've got a tank you can wait until he draws all the foes around him, then drop your anchors on a suitable target. Of course, then you've got the hassle of allies killing your anchor, but you can either warn them with a keybind, or target a strong foe like the Boss, or even better a Lt nearby which isn't likely to be picked out as a threat.

Of your three debuffs (Enervating Field, Radiation Infection and Lingering Radiation) EF is the one that is going to be the primary. That's your damage boost, all RI does is make it easier to hit, and if you're to hit is capped you don't need it. Rad Blast has really high accuracy, though, with its -Def you can almost get away with not slotting it for Acc. I would recommend slotting the main attacks, the ones fired all the time (i.e. Neutrino) for Acc, and leave it off one or two of the most powerful attacks. You might want to slot Cosmic Burst for Acc because of it's reliability as a one shot stun, but it's up to you.

Finally, you have Accellerate Metabolism. EF can't be slotted for that -Res, but it's pretty good on its own, and then you have 25% more damage from AM. The Endurance boost also helps you keep your toggles up. So that definately needs three recharge, so it is up as often as possible. Don't forget to fire it, and fire it off often. You can do the team support thing and set a chatbind to "gather for AM", but frankly, you can do just as well by just firing it off whenever it recharges, when you're in combat.

That's really all I've got, hopefully someone else has more precise build suggestions.

I don't believe I have ever run into anyone dual boxing other than me - and I don't dual box in the sense of running a mission, just trading stuff.

I have had a lot of fun talking to myself while logged in to both accounts when an SG mate happens to show up, though.

I definately second the "fly over the MOB in Nova form and go Dwarf" trick. It's just so satisfying when you THUD! down into the middle of them.

While fighting in Dwarf form (mainly PB, although I think Warshades knock down too) watch for the foe to be knocked down. Quick form shift to Human to either Essense Drain or Incandescent Strike, then back to Dwarf form. Mire works too.

Shadow Cloak, then Starless Step to bring a Quantum to you, then Gravity Well to hold him down. Beat until dead.

Shadow Step into a group, with Shadow Cloak up, Sunless Mire, THEN Dwarf and Black Dwarf Mire. Not quite as good as Nebulous Form maybe (I'll have to try that) but still catches them off guard.

Heh. Most of these are Warshades. It's the addition of Teleport on top of the other combos, I think.