MaHaBone23

I was a fresh young 30 second verteran of the game on my first toon, a Fire/Ice blaster, who's costume i was SOOO proud of (in hindsight, it was probably my greatest fashion travesty in my entire CoX career.)

First of all, I was TERRIFIED of getting run over. By the cars. I'd always looks both ways before crossing the street, and never fought anything while standing in the street, because surely those big-*** sedans would be insta-death, right? (In hindsight, I recall that i was also playing Unreal 2004 at the time, so that's probably where my insane phobia of videogame automobiles came from.)

I was also convinced that if i could attack an enemy from behind, I could do more damage and/or have a better chance to hit. Even if they knew I was there. So I'd attack some Skull or Hellion, then run 180 degrees around them, attack again, rinse and repeat. Of course, all the while never turning MY back on any enemy. (I can't explain where this idea came from. Morrowind maybe?)

With a few door missions and street sweeping, i managed to grind my way to level 7. However, I was starting to get frustrated with the game since I hadn't gotten any new powers... Until someone clued me into the whole "training" thing. (I'll just go ahead and blame this one on Diablo 2 or something...)

Some stranger in-game was kind enough to clue me into the train system early on, so now I always make an effort to help show new players where/how the train system works.

Controllers : A LOT (easily 50% of my toons)
Masterminds: 6
Blasters: 3
Tanks: 3
Scrappers: 2
Defenders: 1 (Dark/Dark, only because I couldn't make a /dark troller)
Dominators: 1
Stalkers: 1
Kelds: .5 (I say .5 because I usually have a lowbie one kicking around that eventually gets deleted to make room for more trollers)
Widows: .5 (see above)
SoA: 0
Corrupters: 0

What's really illuminating is that ALL my toons fall into two distinct categories:
1. Hideous, freakish, monstrous dudes
2. Hot chicks (hey, if I'm going to look at a butt for that many hours, it better be a cute one.)

Able to fill missing roles in those PUG TFs.
Anything/Therm- Thermal can be a passable empath/bubbler/debuffer all rolled into one. People may complain about the graphics on Earth/ but that -defense is a great help.

Most sought after (so I can get in on more).
Anything/Kin, most likely. Folks love dem some SB.
Or a Healorz. :-P

Contributes most to typical TF.
Anything/Rad, if you're fighting AVs.
Anything/Kin to keep things moving.

if they can think up graphics for Gravity, I'm sure Time won't be a challenge.

Maybe a debuff/buff toggle accelerates you and nearby teammates for every target slowed? More of a secondary effect, tho'...

Maybe an AoE placate that can wipe away the memory of all that ugly aggro?

An PB AoE toggle that makes all nearby teammates fight as if they were one level higher (for hit rolls, debuff/buff effects, etc.) That could be a pretty potent Tier 8, especially if you got a few of those stacked.

I use O2 much more on my /storm MMs, since most of the primary powers are used in between or before battles. That frees my attention much more to dole out the odd heal or Freezing Rain. On a troller, it just feels like there are so many other, more impactful powers I could be throwing out that could turn the tide, not just paddle against the current.

I'd rather be dropping some +disorient, but hey, I'm a very porsitive kind of person.

I deliberately DON'T take O2 on my stormies because it such a sad little heal. Why kiss boo-boos when my time can be better spend uncorking some proper whop-***?

Anyone else seeing the builds as a big ol' Wall of text?

Anyhow, these are tough to read, so take my comments with that grain of salt.

Taking the Fire Epic pool without taking Consume is almost criminal, especially on such an end-heavy build. Consume is just the thing to take the edge off a good EMP or freshen you up in a long battle.

If you're teaming alot, I'd get some more Chance for Hold procs in there, in your cages and in CC. They fire off ALOT, and can make locking down a piece of cake. Of course, if you prefer soloing, the damage procs might be more useful for you.

I couldn't imagin taking tactics on my Fire/Rad. I've got enough toggles running, and with the two monster debuff toggles running, few attacks get through.

Personally, I LOVE smoke. Great for managing the big picture, and it keeps the imps out of trouble when they chase down a runner. But any power is completely worthless if you never use it. If it doesn't mesh with your playstyle, take something else.

Put a +Knockback Resist in CJ- now you don't need Acrobatics. Put a +Stealth in Sj, and you don't need SS (I'm assuming SS is there for its Stealth component?)

Take Fallout. It's the saving grace of any PuG. It's a NUKE that massively debuffs its targets, made out of the corpse of a dead teammate. <---How can you resist that?! I've run alot of boss farms to pay for my Fire/Rad's wish list. There's nothing quite as gratifying as seeing your tank rush in, promptly eat floor, and you, the squishy controller, masterfully step in to take his/her place, locking down the mob and lighting up their broken body like it was Hendrix's guitar. 0_0

Good times.

Perfect! Back in action! Thanks for the quick help.

Now, one program restored, 999 to go...

I recently got hit with a nasty trojan, so I wiped my C drive and reinstalled XP just to be sure everything was clean.

Here's the problem- It's been YEARS since my last install, and I have no idea where my original CoH disk is. Is there a way to reinstall/download the game without the disk, or without having to buy another copy?

Any help or insight is appreciated.

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I hear a lot about MC and stuff, but hows Gravity? is it good or bad?

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Been keepin' me down.

Two slots in recall friend seems a bit much. Also- Recall Friend without Fallout? That's like a gun with no bullets!

Fly AND Superspeed seems like much, imho. You can get the Freebird +Steath proc for fly. With that and Smoke, you can sneak past most anything.

Also, EMP is a great Oh Shi-! power when those ambushes come along. That plus a few seconds of CC will lock down damn near anything and everything.

All imho. I've noticed Fire/Rad playstyles tend to vary wildly.

The Mez hole is a gaping one in my build. I wouldn't mind switching over to the Psi epic, once I get some more Recovery bonuses, but for now, I am hopelessly addicted to Consume.

Wow, I dont get Usher OR Dove. Apparently my taste in music indicates healthy calcium levels and silky smooth skin.

Thank you, Pizzicato Five and Turbonegro!

Well, yeah. If stuff is dead, you have 100% damage resistance to it. That's sort of the Yogi Berra school of wisdom. Problem is, many thing you fight may disagree with your opinion of how dead (sorry- defeated) they should be, and may express that opinion with agruments that will make you eat floor.

If you're going to play the In-Your-Face-Suck-My-Choking-Cloud-and-Hotfeet-Twofer controller, you'd best have a shield of some sort from your epics. Otherwise you will be playing the Area-Rug-that-really-ties-the-room-together kind of controller.

Yeah, if you solo alot, Fallout is pointless. I PuG alot, so my only complaint about Fallout is that it doesn't recharge fast enough ^_^

There are few things quite as gratifying as busting a FS'd Fallout off a fallen Tank as you confidently take his place in the heart of the battle.

One other question- why so many slots in Health but only one in Fire shield?

Fire/Kins are great on farms. They're perfect for using a Fallout on! ;-P

Seriously, though, there are so many kins running around these days, its hard to NOT be at damage cap. One more kin isn't going to change things.

I'd take Fallout over Mutation any day. There's LOTS of powers and inspirations that can rez a person. There's only one power that can turn their corpse into a massively debuffing bomb of pure nuke death.

If you like to really "manage the room", take Smoke. It is often overlooked, but it is extremely useful for keeping imps from aggroing additional mobs. It also lets you get close enough to set your anchors before the alpha comes, if you're ever on point. Plus it makes a handy ghetto stealth.

One question- the Basilisk's Gaze - Chance for Recharge Slow in EMP- is that really necessary? Won't it proc on targets that are already held?

Yes, "buy". My bad.

I've been Lord of the Typos lately. :-/

Do you guys big Gold/Silver/Bronze?

I've been burned so many times on expensive Gold drops , that lately I've just been doing a ton of Bronze drops. Sure, 90% of it was trash, but that still puts me at a better average than with Gold drops. Plus, amide all the trash I still get the occasional gem. Maybe not something I can use, but at least something I can sell for a quick 20 mill.

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And shouldn't you have to travel back to make up for the summons? Maybe a 60 sec forced phase period for every summons?

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That's what I was thinking. Wink out for a bit to pay off your time debt. You can still move (like while shifted) but can't do anything until you fulfilled your obligations in the past.

I imagined that you and your doppleganger would take damage independently and even die (as much as anything in this game really "dies"), except if you die he/she winks out.

I'd like to see Time Control. Slow down, speed up, freeze time. Shadowy time echo decoys of yourself. Or a tier 9 that ports in a second you from the near future, so that for a brief period, every power you cast is doubled. You're your own pet!