Local_Man

While leveling up, most of my controllers use Acc/Dam and Damage from Blood Mandate (1.5% Recovery) and Acc/Dam and Acc/Dam/End from Brilliant Leadership (4% Regen). That caps Damage with good accuracy in only 4 slots. If I had a bunch of defense, I might go with the Blood Mandate set, but very few of my controllers have much in terms of Defense.

I would echo the advice about Ill/Rad . . . it is my favorite overall controller. But I like to take Deceive as low as level 4. I'm working an a guide for Ill/Rad, but it is not ready yet . . . I suggest any new player try reading a lot of the guides. While not all of them are great, many are. You will learn more about how the game works by reading guides and reading these boards that you can imagine.

On your Plant/Rad . . . Plant is a great build for controlling large numbers of lower level foes . . . it handles groups of minions and lieutenants, but has some trouble with bosses. It is good for doing small amounts of damage to a large number of foes, but weak at doing a lot of damage to a single target. The best thing to do is play to your strengths, by playing on teams.

On your build, make sure you take the following powers as soon as they are available: From Plant you should have Strangler, Roots, Seeds of Confusion all by level 8, then take Carrion Creepers at 26 and Venus Fly Trap at 32. The fly trap, which is the coolest looking pet in the game, is often called "Audrey" by folks after the big plant in the movie, "Little Shop of Horrors" (but the correct name from the movie is actually "Twoey" or "Audrey Two"). Make sure you get 6 slots into Seeds of Confusion as soon as you can, as this is your key power. I suggest 2 Accuracy, 2 Confuse, 2 Recharge. A good general rule for slotting control powers is start with 2 Accuracy, 2 Recharge, 2 enhancements for the control (Confuse, Hold, or whatever), but there are plenty of exceptions to that rule. One exception is Roots, which is your main Area of Effect (AoE) damage power -- Make sure you slot Roots with 2 Accuracy, as it has an accuracy penalty, then I suggest 3 Damage, 1 Endurance Reduction (the light blue, not the dark). Carrion Creepers should be slotted with 2-3 Recharge, 3 Damage. Your Audrey should be a minimum of 1 Acc, 3 damage. Some plant powers are optional: Vines, an AoE hold power, is a good idea in my opinion (try 2 Acc, 2 Rech, 2 Hold). If you expect to solo a lot, then take Entangle and slot it for damage (1 Acc, 3 Damage). Spirit Tree is a nice healing buff for a team, but skippable if you want to add other powers. Spore Burst is a sleep -- useful solo, but teams tend to make it useless.

On the Rad side, you have to take Radiant Aura, a heal power, but that's a good thing to have. Accelerate Metabolism buffs a lot of smaller things, but adds up to be one of the best buffs in the game (3 Recharge to start, and then 3 EndMod if you have room later). Radiation Infection and Enervating Field are "Debuffs" that are very useful. (I suggest you take a look at my Earth/Rad guide and read the section on the Radiation powers -- that will explain slotting and strategies of how to use the powers quite well.) Also eventually take Lingering Radiation, but that can be delayed. EM Pulse is a great "panic button" power. Mutation is a resurection power for teammates, a nice-to-have power on a team build, but useless if you mostly solo. I suggest you skip Choking Cloud and Fallout on a Plant/Rad.

Plan on choosing a pre-requisite for a travel power by level 12, so you can get a travel power at 14. Probably the best for a new player is Air Superiority/Fly. Air Sup is a melee attack power that will help you to solo. Also plan to take the Fitness Pool -- Swift or Hurdle and Health before level 20, so you can get Stamina at level 20 -- it will fix your problem with running out of endurance. At level 22, you will be able to buy Single Origin Enhancements in Talos Island -- this will make your character much, much better.

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Put your stealth piece in sprint and toggle when needed



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And you can use either the run (Clarity) or jump (Unbounding Leap) stealth IO in Sprint. If you are concerned about the endurance use, then briefly turn on sprint and turn it off, and then the stealth continues for 2 minutes.

Another advantage with doing it this way is that you can use Super Speed in missions where you have to find a hostage to lead out. If the Stealth is in SS, then you will have to keep it turned off for two minutes before you can lead the hostage out. Put the Stealth IO in Sprint, and you can freely use Super Speed without worry, only turning on your added stealth when you specifically want it. Super Speed alone is good enough most of the time.

It is end of the month, and I'm gonna have to work very, very late, so I'll miss all the fun like several others on this thread. It's too bad that some of the festivities couldn't wait for the weekend.

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Illusion gets solotastic at level 18 (Phantom Army). But before that you're not really worth much unless you take Deceive (which drops your XP). Flash is unreliable (long, long recharge), and Spectral Wounds and Blind are only decent for damage. But after you get PA, you'll be a very happy soloist.
Sorry, I don't know much about plant.

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No, No, NO, Deceive does not reduce your XP over time. It can possibly reduce you XP per foe, but you get a good chunk of the XP for damage done by the deceived foe. The net result of using Deceive is that you kill stuff faster, getting more XP over time. It is also one of the most powerful single target controls in the game. Read some of the guides.

Plant/Storm is a great combo, with great synergy. Its strength is AoE control and damage over time. Its main weakness is dealing with single tough foes. Your only option to stack mag is to stack Strangler or Vines + Strangler. Storm's Tornado and Lightning Storm make up for it, but you don't get those until 35 and 38.

Ill/Storm is a great solo character. If you take Deceive at level 4, you have a power that can take the toughest foe out of every fight, because Deceive does not cause aggro, so you can easily stack it from range. You start out as a controller/Blaster with Blind-Spectral Wounds. Storm adds a lot of control otherwise missing from Illusion, and adds good damage in the later levels. Once you get Phantom Army at 18, you suddenly have three pocket tanks as one of the best powers in the game. Freezing Rain provides the debuffs to make PA better. Spectral Terror gives you AoE control, letting you take out the foes one at a time even when PA is recharging.

Take a look at Tal_N's Ill/Storm Guide for an idea of how good the combo is. I went with Steamy Mist + Super Speed for my travel since it also gave me full invisibility, allowing me to skip both Superior Invis and Group Invis. I skipped Flash and went with Thunderclap instead, but either is usable -- but don't take Flash until later levels, as it stinks until you can fully slot it with SOs or better for Acc, Hold Duration and Recharge. I took everything from Storm, and soloed this character most of the time. If fact, on teams I have to limit some of my better powers, but solo, I get to embrace the chaos.

Additional consideration for Illusion

One important aspect of Spectral Wounds, Phantom Army and Phantasm is that all three have Spectral Damage (also called "Illusory Damage"), which is Psi damage that is initially applied, but then heals back after a few seconds. See the City of Data entry of Spectral Wounds for details. In the case of Spectral Wounds, this Spectral Damage is almost 40% of the base damage, or about 20% if Spectral Wounds is fully slotted for Damage to the ED cap. At level 50, this amounts to about 20 points of damage. After 10 seconds, this extra 20 points of damage heals back.

The important thing to note is that if the foe is defeated before the heal-back, then the damage counts. Spectral Wounds is a fast attack (about 1 second) that recharges in 6 seconds. If Spectral Wounds has some recharge, either by slotting or externally from Hasten or IO set bonuses, then using two attacks, Spectral Wounds can easily stack an extra 40 points of damage as long as the foe can be defeated in 10 seconds! If the foe takes longer than 10 seconds to defeat, then the extra 40 points of Spectral Damage from Spectral Wounds will only apply from attacks in the last 10 seconds.

MagicJ's testing was against a Boss, which cannot be defeated in the 10 second time period. However, against lower level foes, where the foe can be defeated more quickly, Spectral Wounds will contribute that extra 20 or 40 points of damage to each defeated foe, resulting in a much higher DPS than shown on these charts. The faster foes can be defeated, the more Spectral Damage will add to the DPS of Illusion Controllers.

While these charts show Illusion to have a very low DPS without Phantom Army, Illusion's DPS is actually much higher against lower level foes. Illusion's low performance in the above tests only apply to the limited scenario where an Illusionist is fighting a higher level foe who cannot be defeated quickly. Against a higher level foe, the Spectral Damage will only add 40 points of additional damage from the last two attacks just before the foe dies. But against a large number of lower level foes, Spectral Damage adds 20 or 40 points of damage to EACH foe. Phantom Army and Phantasm's Decoy also do Spectral Damage, all of which can add to Illusion's DPS if the foes can be defeated quickly enough before the heal-back. The Spectral Damage gives Illusion the exact opposite of Damage-over-Time seen in many other controller sets -- higher burst damage that then heals back over time.

But to really show this in a "test," the test will need to be constructed in such a way that a number of foes can be defeated in 10 seconds. While such tests are useful to some degree, these tests do not reflect the actual gameplay experience of using a character in the wide range of events that happen in the course of missions, Task Forces, or even street hunting.

I felt that the above testing, while contributing to some understanding of the effectiveness of controllers, failed to show an important strategic benefit of Illusion. I thought that the poor DPS showing on the charts above might discourage someone from making an Illusion Controller, because it appears that the damage is very low. Since the game involves a lot of street hunting and defeating minions, Illusion actually performs much better than these tests would suggest, and is generally viewed as an excellent choice for a solo controller. There are additional factors, too, since Illusion has a gap in its attack chain that can easily be filled by another attack outside of the primary powerset. This, also, will contribute to the DPS that an Illusion controller can do. (But, MagicJ has addressed this aspect to some degree.)

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Phanty isn't really a high ST damage pet. It's more of an AoE/Support type pet.

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Well, I don't know that I would agree with this. I don't see how you could call Phantasm a "support pet" when Phantasm is a flying energy blaster with a decoy. Phanty alone has two attacks, a single target blast for 40 damage, 4 Sec Recharge, and a cone Torrent, 62 damage with an 8 Sec Recharge. Then the decoy has two attacks that do 58 points of spectral damage, but that damage heals back after 5 seconds. The decoy lasts for 30 seconds, but is re-cast immediately if the target did not die. (Decoy Recharge time is 30 sec.)

I don't see how Phantasm doesn't add more damage either. Phantasm has generally been considered to be one of the higher damage pets, generally second to the Fire Imps. The upgrade to Rocky might have moved Phanty to 3, but I think he still does more damage than Jack, Twoey (Audrey II) and Singy. Now, I could see how Singularity might be considered a "support pet," but not Phantasm.

Of course, if you keep an eye on the Spectral damage and take advantage of it by killing the foe hit by Spectral Damage quickly, then the addition of Phanty's decoy does even more damage.

I still say that Illusion is getting a bum rap, since this list does not take into account Illusion's spectral damage. It actually does a lot more damage against minions and Lts.

Also, a lot of foes resist the damage types done by other controllers, especially smashing damage. There are a few foes who also resist Psi damage, too, and those are hard for Illusionists and Mind Controllers. But Illusion would be listed higher if the test was different.

Still, the list is interesting.

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However, on a minion, one shot of Blind-SW will often finish off a minion BECAUSE HE DIES BEFORE THE SPECTRAL DAMAGE HEALS BACK. The net effect is that Illusion actually does a lot more damage than this test would suggest, but only if he is able to kill off the foe quickly enough to avoid the heal back. An Illusion controller will therefore kill off minions quickly, probably more quickly than other controllers, but will take longer on higher HP foes.

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This and one more thing: the spectral portion of the attack isn't doubled by containment. So what you end up with is twice that spectral portion of damage doesn't really apply. Pretty much the only function of the spectral damage is to push a final blow.

You know, I'm thinking to myself this whole concept of a "Wartroller" is perhaps a bit delusional. Yes, you can tweak a Controller to do decent damage, especially with a supporting secondary set (e.g. Kinetics). But, dude, if you want to Blast then roll a Blaster. Wartrolling is a trap.

Of course, this is a trap I've found myself in, and am still well ensnared in. When I roll Blaster, you know I'm trying to be a Controller. ;P The appeal of having a character who is awesome at offense and defense while not being as one-dimensional as a Scrapper is strong. If only Masterminds could roll blue side.

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Yep, I'm very aware that the spectral damage does not double. There have been lots of discussions/complaints about that on the boards. And I'm in the middle of working on an Ill/Rad guide where I discuss that very issue. but even without having the spectral damage doubled with containment, spectral damage still adds a substantial amount to the burst damage of an Illusion controller if you can defeat the foe before the heal-back. This is why I suggest that Illusion is much more effective as a Minion-killer than as a boss-killer.

The damage of the single target holds and immobilize powers of most controllers are pretty much the same. (Except Plant? I know the AoE gets extra damage, but I haven't checked the damage for the single target Immob.) Fire, Earth, Ice, Grav and Plant all have a single target immob, a single target hold, both of which do the same amount of Total Damage. Grav gets Propel and Lift as additional single target damage. Mind gets Mezmerize having the same damage as the Immob in other sets, plus it has Levitate for additional single target damage. Illusion get the same damage in the single target hold, and the same damage in Spectral Wounds as a single target immob, except for that spectral burst damage. With a different kind of test, Illusion might come out a heck of a lot higher . . . say, for instance, the number of minions that the controller can wipe out in a certain time. (I haven't tested it -- just speculating.)

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Here's another thought -- Earth Control will probably have more success against higher level foes than other controllers due to its -Defense, even if its damage is lower.

[/ QUOTE ] I dont think so, most controller attacks get inherrent tohit to them and by the time you are in the 20's you would have at least 2 SO's in each attack. So you are good up to +3s for the most part.

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Well, Controllers generally get a 10% accuracy bonus on their single target hold. But an Earth Controller will have a better chance to hit more often, once he has hit once due to the 20% Defense Debuff in each of his attacks. That means that he may have more success against higher level foes, even higher than +3. It probably would not be enough to offset his lower damage, but it would speed up his ability to take down higher level foes.

I haven't taken the time to read the entire thread, but the time for Illusion without PA bothers me . . . and I think I figured out why.

Spectral Wounds has huge burst damage, but the spectral damage heals back after a few seconds. On a boss, you might as well not have the spectral damage in the first place, since there is always plenty of time to heal back.

However, on a minion, one shot of Blind-SW will often finish off a minion BECAUSE HE DIES BEFORE THE SPECTRAL DAMAGE HEALS BACK. The net effect is that Illusion actually does a lot more damage than this test would suggest, but only if he is able to kill off the foe quickly enough to avoid the heal back. An Illusion controller will therefore kill off minions quickly, probably more quickly than other controllers, but will take longer on higher HP foes.

In playing an Illusionist, this is important to understand. Why? Well, when PA is out, they will randomly attack whatever foes are around. If you kill off the minions, which the illusionist can do quickly, the PA are more likely to focus their damage on the higher HP foes, helping you kill much faster.

This is an example of where the test may not be taking into consideration the unique properties of a particular powerset.

Here's another thought -- Earth Control will probably have more success against higher level foes than other controllers due to its -Defense, even if its damage is lower.

I have an Ice/Storm at 50, and I can tell you a 'Troller even lazier than him . . . Fire/Rad. I run Hot Feet and Choking Cloud. I see a spawn, Flashfire + Fire Cages, then run in and stand there. Do nothing other than keep an eye out to see if any foes break free of the hold in Choking Cloud. Foes slowly melt, while Fire Imps do large amounts of Damage. Next group, Flashfire+Fire Cages, run in and stand there.

I have described it in other threads as "the Lazy Man's 'Troller."

There are a lot of options with a Dark/Elec Defender. As I said in previous posts, I lean more towards the controller-ish side.

Fearsome Stare is my key power, and generally my opener. I put a full set of Glympse of the Abyss in there, getting occasional damage from the damage proc. My two holds both have 2 Acc/Mez Hami-Os and 2 Recharge, but Tesla Cage has a Dam/Mez Hami-O, and Petrifying Stare has the Ghost Widow Psi Damage Proc.

I went with Power Build Up for my epic. It gives me a lot of options. PBU and Fearsome Stare means that the crowd is cowering for a long, long time. PBU and Thunderous Blast finally gives me that ranged AoE End Drain. Granted, it drains my endurance, too, but it really works well. PBU + Tesla Cage + Petrifying Stare lets me hold a boss for a long time.

I still don't have Short Circuit, but I gave up other epic powers to fit in Zapp and Aim. I put a full set of Manticore (which has great bonuses) in Zapp. I put Thunderstrike in both Charged Bolts and Lightning Bolt. For Voltaic Sentinel, I have Acc/Dam and Dam from the Brilliant Leadership and Blood Mandate sets, giving 1.5% Recovery and 4% Regen in only 4 slots. I still have Hover, mainly as my knockback protection and to keep out of melee in some situations (the ITF).

I still have more shopping to do, as Local Man is far from my richest character and has no cash for purple sets. But he's a lot of fun to play at 50, and I'm pretty happy with my build.

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<QR>

You don't need a crapload of Controllers to do this TF right (but hey, the more the merrier). Ice Slick, Quicksand, and Earthquake work well for grounding the mobs as they spawn, ditto for Tar Patch.

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Storm/* Defenders or */Storm controllers can use Snow Storm to ground the witches, too. Plus they may have O2 Boost, which provides some protection from Endurance Drain. I love using my Ice/Storm controller on this TF.

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. The Much Anticipated Level 32 Power has finally arrived! Yay! This is the largest, and longest duration, and best Hold in the game. Period. .

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Not exactly. Trick Arrow gets the power .. on a stick. You can shut down a mob before you get to it or neuter an incomming ambush before they can do any harm. And without haveing to position yourself in a mob and getting hit.

sill 2nd best is no shame.

and My two favorate sets are rad/rad/ and TA/Arch. good guide.

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TA's EM Pulse Arrow is the same, except it is ranged and has a substantially smaller radius.

I think a lot of folks would say that Volcanic Gasses is the best hold in the game. One cast can get Bosses, since the geyser pets can stack holds. Also, it lasts longer than EM Pulse. I suggest that EM Pulse, in its two forms, and Volcanic Gasses are the two best holds in the game, and leave it to each player to decide which is better.

You did not talk about the biggest weakness to RI -- the cast time. On fast moving teams, RI usually isn't even worth casting, since the anchor will be dead before the long cast animation is complete. You listed the cast time as .5, when actually that is the activation time (the time after the animation start when the power begins to have an effect). The animation time on RI substantially reduces its usefulness, especially on fast-moving teams. Because of the animation time, it is often only worth casting on foes who are going to last a while -- which usually means bosses, EBs and AVs.

I would also suggest that RI plus an AoE Immobilize is almost as good as an AoE hold, since they can't move and they can't hit you.

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Well, if you have a credit card to purchase something on the store, why not just use that to buy game time?

Well, I do use a credit card and buy in bundles its cheaper by far then the monthly card route. However to get this I have to pay more per month the the discounted package deals correct. So being a loyal customer 35 months straight and GvsE pack and wedding pack and arachnos helment code add ons why we can't just upgrade our accounts is kinda shocking.

I mean if its a new account or something I could see credit fraud that you speak of. But if I'm using my same card which I have used for almost 3 years now I don't see how you all would or could possible have any concerns.

I see you have brought this to others attentions and I guess I'll hang out and wait??? Do you think a response will be quick or is this something that will drag on a while???

Thanks for your info Lighthouse any thing else would really be keen.

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I'm not exactly sure what you are asking. Someone asked about buying Time Cards from the NC Soft Store site because they are hard to find. Lighthouse responded that if a person has a credit card to buy stuff from the NC Soft Store, then that person should just pay the subscription rather than buy timecard codes. He indicated that credit card fraud is a problem. Why? Since I know something about credit card fraud, I'll make a guess.

When you purchase a code, such as a time card code, it is an instantaneous transaction -- enter the information on your credit card, and boom, you have a code. It often takes time for the credit card company (MC or VISA) to advise a vendor (like NC Soft) that a card number is fraudulent. Therefore, there is no way to get back that code . . . I don't know if NC Soft has a way to track the code back to the transaction, but it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't. Those codes are probably generated using some kind of algorithm and verified with some kind of check-sum system.

When you subscribe for game time, your credit card information is linked to your account. If someone commits credit card fraud, then the account can be shut down as soon as it is discovered, or there is a chance that there might be a way to track down the person committing the fraud.

Lighthouse made a valid point: Why use your credit card to purchase a game time code, when you could simply use the credit card to purchase game time directly? Maybe if you are buying the card as a gift, but that's just about the only good reason.

(I don't consider someone's inability to manage their finances to be a good reason why that person can't use a credit card unless he doesn't have one -- in which case he can use a purchased Visa gift card or try to find the NC Soft game time cards -- not these new Game Cards which are supposed to be for new players.)

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I was posting on Massively.com in an attempt to win the freakshow costume. I am one of the "lost players" that live on the "forgotten" East Coast, USA.

I found this very interesting post there...

"Johnny_Velocity said...
This and other customer relations-oriented idiocy on NCSoft's part was the catalyst for me quitting the game last month after being on since the start.

Let me get this straight - a permanent goody is given in limited numbers to existing customers only who, with only a few exceptions, necessarily needed to already have plans to go to the convention. Net advantage: zero new customers, few, if any, new con attendees, a few hundred happy people. Net disadvantage: several thousand angry customers.

Meanwhile, in an effort to promote a new time card campaign, a 30-day real time temporary power is attached to time cards going on sale at retailers like Target, readily located just about everywhere in the U.S. Rather than make the power a permanent one, thereby assuring themselves of some nice early sales to veteran players and thereby impressing said retailers, the power is made a temp one with a real time expiration, virtually assuring little veteran player participation.

If COH still has more than 100,000 subscribers when Champions Online and DCU Online hit, I'll be shocked. It's a good game with a great community, but they continue to alienate people* like we are completely disposable - which is exactly how they will then be treated when the competition hits.

* the term "people" does not include forum lackeys "

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I doubt that anyone but us "forum lackeys" know anything about the reward given to the attendees of the San Diego Comic Con, so your argument that "people" will be upset is weak. I think it is fairly silly to get upset about an insignificant bonus given to a small group of people who were able to make it out to the SDCC. Since I am on the East Coast, that wasn't an option for me. Would I like some kind of little exclusive perk? Sure, but it is nothing to get upset about. "Why so serious?"

And as said in other posts, these new cards are to sell the game to new customers, not for current subscribers. I think the temp Jet Pack is a great idea, to give new players a chance to experience one of the early "oh, cool!" aspects of the game, flying. By the end of 30 days, if the new customer is really enjoying the game, he or she should have gotten at least one character up to level 14 and gotten a travel power.

Would I like one of these new jet packs? Sure! But the game was designed that you have to EARN a travel power at or after level 14 (if you choose to). That is why this Jet Pack is temporary, same as the packs you get from the bank missions. Even the GvE jet pack, which I love, does not change the fact that you need to eventually earn a travel power.

This is clearly NOT in NC Soft's best interest to use as a "game time card." Retailers take a share of the revenue, so NC Soft has to provide the same service for less income. (Of course, this is also true of "game time cards" that people buy from retailers -- NC Soft encourages its customers to subscribe with a credit card because then it doesn't have to pay a huge share to the retailer.) The intent is to get more people into the game, paying monthly subscriptions.

Personally, since I'm paying the same amount whether I get a time card or pay directly, I'd rather pay directly and have more of my money pay those nice folks trying to make the game more fun.

To those folks who want time cards, why not purchase those Visa Gift Cards instead of game cards, since you can use them to buy game time? And you can use them for just about anything else, too.

Frankly, I am happy to see this. Anything that gets the game back out in front of the public, so we get more new folks is a good thing. I haven't looked to see if any other games do this, but having a card to sell appears to be a good way to get some of these stores to carry the game without taking up valuable shelf space -- the stores always want to use that shelf space for the fastest moving merchandise, and it is difficult to suggest that a four-year old game is going to be a hot seller. This way, the stores can keep it available longer, and we will hopefully be seeing a few new teammates.

The jet pack looks good, and I would be willing to spend $5 or $10 to get it in game if it was permanent . . . but not for just 30 days.

have Teleport on my first 50, an Ill/Rad. Like you, I originally took it because of my wife. She kept getting lost, and I took Recall Friend to 'port her around. I got used to Teleport, and got to like it once I found "the Teleport Bind" that almost everyone uses:

/bind lshift+lbutton powexecname Teleport

It lets you hold down the Shift key, and then left-click where you want to go. Eventually, at level 44, I added Hover, which makes Teleport much better to use.

At one point, I respec'ed out of Teleport and into Fly . . . but it just didn't feel right. Eventually, I respec'ed back into Teleport. But Hover makes it much better -- no more plummit if you don't teleport again quickly enough, and you can pause mid travel, take a look around and then pick another direction. Hover is also great for those open air missions where you have to look for something, while Teleport alone for those missions is a real pain in the tail -- kind of like Super Jump in those missions.

Last year was indicated to be a celebratory grant to all existing CoH only or CoV only players to have access to both games. But it was clearly stated that anyone who purchased just one or the other thereafter would only have access to that one side.

This now merges both sides, allowing anyone who finds an old CoH only or CoV only box to get both sides, plus the other benefits of both sides.

This only makes sense, since both sides are just different sides of the same coin. My guess is that this means that some of the future plans may involve bases, and this way, any CoH only subscribers will have access to those bases.

(I'm sure some folks who paid for both sides will start to complain, but that's just plain silly.)

Edit: Darn, Lighthouse beat me to it.

Thanks! I'm fond of the strategy section, too. It was something I felt was needed in some of the other good guides out there.

On Recall Friend, you can always use Teleport as your travel power, taking Recall Friend as your Pre-requisite. Mutation is skippable if you want to fit it in otherwise -- but it is nice to have both of those. It would not be hard to fit it in late, but hard to fit it in early.

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I have a kin def that I like to break out every now an dthen just for sillies. Repel has so many uses.

Perhaps my favorite thing was to stand at the edge of a building, TP a mob to the edge of the roof, slide up close and launch them. Repeat til they have only a sliver of health left, TP, brawl... find next victim.

Also, trying to launch mobs over the police drones and into the central part of Atlas is fun.

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Repel can be the source of a lot of fun. My buddy and I have pulled out our Kin Defenders and played Hellion soccer many, many times. There's a nice little park in Atlas that works well for this . . . SCORE!!!!!

With the Good vs. Evil Jump Jet, see how far you can jump in one shot . . . Start at one end of Steel and launch!

Have each of you create a new character, and have a race around Atlas, seeing who can collect all the badges and get back to the City Representative first. For something a little more challenging, have level 2 characters race from the Atlas platform to Portal Corp in PI and back.

Interesting guide, with some fun insights. I have a level 22 'bots/FF who I pull out once in a while, but I don't play Villains that much.

I would suggest you add a little more about slotting, including some suggested IO set slotting. What about sets for the first set of robots? At level 22, in my Protector Bots I think I have 1 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 Defense, and plan to add a heal. I thought that was a decent mix of offense and defense, especially since my secondary is all defense. I was thinking about going with 2 Acc/Dam from sets, an Acc/Dam/End and a Dam/End, and then the Defense and Heal. If I use Blood Mandate and Brilliant Leadership, I can get some Regen and Recovery bonus out of it.

What about Repair vs. Aid Other/Aid Self? I went with the Medicine Pool because that was the only way to get a self heal for me, but is Aid Other better than Repair?

Could someone provide a summary of the announcement? Some of us can't access the other sites due to firewalls (at work).

Edit: I was able to read the press release, but not the other links.

Personally, I don't have a problem with it. I have always felt that CoH was a natural for in-game advertising, as long as:

1) it is optional (Check),

2) it doesn't disrupt game play or reduce performance,

3) it is not annoying with too much repetition,

4) it provides a benefit, either by reducing the monthly fee for those who agree to accept it, or by funding additional development for the game. (Check)

As long as the ads follow factors 2 & 3, I'm all for it.

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Well, I'm at 45 right now with my Earth/rad troller, and you convinced me to spec out of CC for EMP. A change that I am not regretting, so thank you very much for the guide

Couple of notes on my own experiences. Before the respec, I typically used CC in conjunction with VG. It helped ground more bosses faster when I was on an 8 person team. This isn't always needed, but I liked the defensive nature of the power and not having to constantly watch my recharge rate. Earth has a lot of controls but the recharge times on many of them are tough to work with at times. Typically you just drop VG and try to fossilize the few bosses as quick as you can. Choking Cloud helped make this a bit more efficient, especially since it and VG can run simulaneously for the 45 second duration of VG. Now, if I have to, I can panic button with EMP. So not much of a loss not having CC anymore. Also, I fit Acrobatics into my build. This was done originally due to the melee aspect of CC, but the extra protection from holds stacks well with AM resistences. Mainly acrobatics helps with the hold resistance. I think its only against Mag 1s, but it helps to keep your toggles up in combat without always relying on Breakfrees or without having to take the Psi epic set.

Another note, is that using stalagmites and Fissure will often (Not always) disorient any bosses in the group. This means you can do a double aoe/pbaoe hold or a double aoe stun to groups. The disadvantage is Fissure has a really short range for an AoE attack. This range issue convinced me to keep Acro as well. Although I still get grief from some SG mates who think you can't do an earth troller without taking fire epic (extreme damage with containment) or Energy (Holds become godlike, rather than just nearly unstoppable).

Finally, I need some advice. Earth's Embrace for my lvl 49 power or Cages. I have up till now relied on EQ as my constant out of the box control so cages isn't one of my standards. The advantage is you can actually control more groups without having them fire on you at range like you do with cages. I still want cages though, and I'm trying to decide between Cages and Earth's Embrace. I had already planned to take my single target damage attack, hurl boulder. I hate having to rely on a temp power (blackstaff) to do enough single target damage to solo well. I can only choose two of these, but I might forgo the singe Ranged attack as well.

Would love some idea's on this....?

Thanks for the guide!

-Fissile (victory Server)

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My experience with Choking Cloud comes from trying it on my first Ill/Rad (not good) and then deciding to give it another chance on my Fire/Rad (absolutely loved it!! key power for the build!!) My playstyle with Earth/Rad is to stay back out of melee, using places to hide to avoid taking aggro when needed. As a result, Choking Cloud was clearly not consistant with my playstyle. My solution for holding Bosses? Volcanic Gasses + Quicksand. Maybe use Stone Cages if it looks like anyone is trying to escape. Then hide, and let the unique nature of Volcanic gasses stack mag on the Bosses enough to hold them, or use Fossilize to help.

As I said in the guide, the Earth APP is the only one I haven't used much. I recently took Fissure on my Ice/Storm at 41, but really can't evaluate it until it gets some slots. The Ice/Storm is more melee oriented, using Arctic Air, so Fissure fits the playstyle. I like the Ice APP set for my Earth/Rad, and have found effective uses for the three powers I took (Hybernate, Ice Armor and Ice Storm.) All of the epics are nice powersets, and can bring something useful to the table. I have a Karma -knockback in my Ice Armor, so I don't have Acrcbatics.

Since you already have a self-heal in Radiant Aura, do you really need the Dull-Pain-like Earth's Embrace? I personally find lots of uses for Stone Cages, including on the STF, so I would recommend Stone Cages.