Lxndr

I have a concept. I like building based on concept.

This stems from my desire to play a Demon Summoning Mastermind.

Right now the concept could either work with /Storm Summoning or /Sonic Resonance.

I have a few stormies (one defender, one controller... and possibly one corruptor)

I've only toyed with Sonic Resonance. It looks like it has a lot of useful powers, but it also looks like it has a lot of dud powers (Sonic Barrier, Sonic Haven, Sonic Replusion, Clarity). But at least those are easily skipped if I want, for instance, something like Leadership. Storm only has one skippable power: O2 Boost.

I know that I'd have to wait for I21 to create a /Sonic MM. but I'll probably wait anyway, as this character is likely to be a hero, and I'd rather start blueside.

Anyway - what would y'all say would be the good/bad of going with Storm over Sonic, or vice versa, with Demons as the primary?

I'm returning to the game after about a 3 year absence.

When I left, about half the Issues came with a free respecification for all characters; usually these were issues when things changed significantly for a goodly portion of the possible players.

Of course, this time around, they're letting us take a travel power at level 4, and adjusting the top power pools so that they're available at 35. This is kind of a significant change.

Has there been any word on whether or not a free respecification will happen at I21?

Don't want to take anything for granted.

My 32 I/SS tank still has it. Same reason as Archiviste. I wanted "ALL" the powers (though I'm still waffling on Hurl, considering Vengeance instead). And occasionally it becomes useful. But mostly it sits waiting to be used, collecting cobwebs.

It's too much knockback, and too little disorientation. I wish it was the other way around.

Don't get me wrong, I *want* to see Stalkers on teams.
I just rarely do.
And I wind up mostly solo-ing my girl (she's claws/ninjitsu, for the record).

But once Freedom comes out I'll be rolling an energy melee/ice character, and would like for her to be more contributory than my current Stalker, who's basically just there for me to toy with.

I don't think it's unfair to say that Stalkers are a very solo-friendly archetype. They're certainly very friendly to my style of solo play.

But... my experience with my Stalker (she's still only 24) has made me wonder what role a Stalker could play on a team. (I've soloed her almost entirely, and the teams I've done have been pretty much random pickup teams with friends, so it's been like 'oh, sure, lol, do whatever').


Soo... teamed stalkers, what do you DO? Do you just run along and do your own thing?

As someone who both dislikes:

(a) crafting
and
(b) trading among players

what recourse do I have to fill my alpha slot, and otherwise participate in end game content? So far with my research, it looks like I have to do at least one (if not both) of these things to even get a 'common' thing.

Am I wrong?

Babysitting Domination (and Hasten, if I've chosen to take it) makes Dominators one of the least relaxing ATs to play for me.

Oddly, the most relaxed feeling I've been getting these days has been from my Stalker. Walk up, hit, kill, placate and run. Wait... walk up, hit, kill... it's kind of zen.

I've always found it difficult to find teams, for some reason. Mostly I'm just shy, and I don't want to intrude on others by approaching them and asking if they'd like to team with me. Yaay social anxiety. Anyway, my lens is through "soloing."


my first four characters on the hero side were all controllers
my first three? characters on the villain side were dominators

crowd control is my love; but I also like dealing damage. Containment made me happy when it showed up.


I've not really experienced the EATs enough to give them a judgment. so I'll focus on the base ten archetypes:


However, while I love Crowd Control, I HATE Domination as an inherent. it's so fiddly. it's not passive like other inherents. It's so easy to just forget about. But even if you forget about it (like I often do) the dominator is still fun.

Also, I should mention that I don't think pets belong in the crowd control sets, mostly. It just feels like an unimaginative damage-dealing bone tossed to the control sets, as opposed to something well thought out. Like they got to 32 and went "well.... guess we need a pet, right?" as opposed to something more control-oriented.

So I'd rank controllers and dominators both on the same level, for slightly different reasons. One is more precision (controller) one is more active (dominator).

1. Controller/Dominator

I will add a caveat: I hate hate hate targeting other players. so when it comes to Controllers, certain secondaries aren't loved. You can spec out a bubbler/shielder without individual shields, but Empathy specifically probably wants some of its ally target powers. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against my Earth/Empath.

(also not really a fan of location-based powers; I'm a keyboard player, and there's no simple method to avoid using the mouse for location-based powers; this is why I did Earth/Empath, blend locations AND ally-targets in one)

After that... as I said, I love dealing damage. so let's do this:

2. Scrapper, Blaster, Brute

then kind of going down:

3. Corruptor/Stalker - different flavors of damage dealing from the straightforwardness of scrappers/brute/blaster

also remember the caveat in re: targeting other players when it comes to the Corruptor.

4. Masterminds

finally, something that actually makes sense to have pets.
I only have one MM, though I'm planning on making a few more when Freedom launches.
the play I've had with my single MM I've enjoyed (she's a Necro/Dark). And despite having weird pet-commands that no other AT needs, at least they're not as annoyingly fiddly as Domination.

these are kind of like halfway between a damage dealer and a supporter...

speaking of supporters...

5. Tankers/Defender

The poor tankers. Sometimes I love my tanks - it's another interesting way to control crowds (see above) with a more melee flavor. Unfortunately, out of all of the archetypes, I've found the tank tends to shine less bright when soloing, and as I mentioned above, I sort of write myself into corners where I'm stuck soloing.

(and if I'm going to solo I'll log into another character, and not be in a position to find a team for my tank. it's a vicious cycle.)

Defenders have a similar issue. I do love my defenders. I discovered recently (I only returned to the game this month) they're getting a 30% damage boost when soloing, and I haven't had much opportunity to try that out yet. But still, their primaries are all kind of geared towards team play (which is great!), so they wind up in a similar boat to the tankers.

Let me make one more general note:

different powersets can upset this arrangement.


so let's put a 6:

6. Khelds, VEATS. since as I mentioned above, I have almost no experience with them. I am enjoying bringing my Warshade out to play in the recent weeks... but I think the EATs are just too different to be squeezed into this kind of list.

I have no issues with it.
Of course, I'm still bugged that void damage against Kheldies isn't untyped anymore.

So basically, if I want either of these powers (which seems like a good idea) it'll cost me ten bucks... or if I'm not so impatient, closer to five once Freedom comes out.

What do they LOOK like? Their descriptions make me wary. I mean, I'd love the numerical boost, but not if I'm going to look silly.

(I wish the Steam Jump power from the Steampunk pack was this reskinned, instead of the jump pack reskinned. But what can you do?)

I started playing this game about a month after it's release.
Then I had to drop from playing for a while because chemotherapy costs a lot of money, and takes a lot of time. But now I'm gainfully employed, and I can afford to play the game again. Yay! So, I'm back.

I did get at least one character to 50 (difficult for me, because the game starts to grind away at me after 32).

So...

Apparently there's end-game content now, so I can pull out the single Level 50 I have and play around with it, right?

It seems to be called 'Alpha Slot' or something similar? I know I have access to it, because I bought Going Rogue and I have the one badge that they want me to have. But I have no idea how the heck to actually do this.

My character is a Controller (Mind/Kin) who seems to have lost her ability to easily solo after 32.

Assuming I have the patience can I solo through whatever the missions are necessary to give myself an Alpha Slot? Otherwise, are there teams still being created, or is everyone out there already slotted, and I'm kind of screwed?

If you wait until the next Issue release date unknown, but suspected to be some time in September), you can take the Patron mission s at 35.

Otherwise, you're right, I believe.

Oh man, I love the singularity.

The only pet in the entirety of Controllers that controls with regularity.

I have a non-Crab named Blue Rocket, which is one of the many names given to the plant 'Wolfsbane.' I'm glad the server I was playing on didn't already have it.

I have a Widow named Menarche. I felt it was an appropriate name.

I'm trying to come up with a name for a Crab, because I don't want to deal with the costume issues on Blue Rocket, who will not ever be a crab.

I think I'm going to use a "regular" name, like 'Eric Brown.'

So, I think it's long past time to remove the 30-second timer on Phase Shift.

As I recall, the timer was added 'round Issue 0 because players were somehow abusing the power, just leaving it on all the time?

If we want to stop this, why not take a page from the self-phasing powers of the Kheldians, and just put an endurance burn on it? When the burn becomes too strong, the effort of keeping oneself Phased means you just run out of endurance.

A long long time ago, back in Issue 0, I created an Illusion/Force Field character. He uses the Fighting Power Pool (all four powers), he has the Leadership powers... and he does not have any of the Ally-target bubbles, on purpose. He is certainly a concept character.

Now, thanks to a roleplaying challenge by a friend of mine, I am creating a villainous version of him. I know I can just create an Ill/FF and jump sides, but that's too boring.

Since 'Illusion' is not something that exists on the red side, I'm left with Forcefields. So I was looking at Corruptors and Masterminds trying to figure out the best way to emulate him.

Luckily, he's already supposed to be a former gang member, so the Thugs powerset made sense to me. Thus, I'm considering a Thugs/FF character.

I'll probably drop the Fighting pool, and just pick up the gun skills. 'Cause, well, why not? If he's going to go thug, might as well go full-on thug. Mostly I wanted it for Boxing and Kick, 'cause that's the sort of guy he is. But as a villain, might as well go with the lethal force, right?

Keeping Leadership seems to make sense.

I still want to skip the single-target bubbles. Having zero single-target bubbles wasn't an issue as a Controller; but as a Mastermind, now I'll have pets to take care of. How badly will I be hurting myself if I do this? Any advice on the best way to approach this character, given these stipulations?

I've tried joining PinnBadges. And I get to watch others post and interact, without being able to myself. I get the feeling I'm supposed to figure out the magical way to find the right person to beg to get permission...