Mad Grim

Don't see any reason to go for the single target, but I also use Provoke in normal fights.

The secret to soloing EBs, AVs, and GMs lies in Provoke. Provoke them, debuff them, jump around and make sure you are never near your pets.

As a bot/trap, Wade should have extreme trouble hitting your pets anyhow. He isn't even an AV. With max difficulty he still only qualifies as EB, which I found odd, as Ghost Widow was an AV

Most of the time I'll stick to SOs till 47, besides a KB protection. Refresh them every time I can.

I actually started with an Electric/Electric (it's lightning, it HAS to hurt! Oh, and should probably be hard to dodge too...) And despite (perhaps because of) dying many many times, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Certainly forced me to learn as much about the game as I could- I learned pulling before I learned that you could replace enhancements. Learned to view and think about every fight before rushing in, learned that other players are fantastic to have around (meatshields!), and loved to crash and burn play-style. If I screwed up, I died, and I learned from my mistake (Ok, no more attacking 50 foot tall pumpkin monsters...). Learned how to keep enemies away- combination of Tesla Cage and Lightning Clap. Learned that there is no shame in running. Learned that it is hard to have more fun than nuking the hell out of some enemies that just killed you.

If I had started with a melee character, I may not have even stuck around, but that's just me. Unless they are religiously opposed to ranged fighting, I stick to my recommendation of a Blaster.

Should note that I joined during the Halloween event.

As far as the easiest- definitely one of the melee ATs. That is not, however, what I would recommend to a new player. I would recommend a Blaster- not because of it's performance, but because of what it teaches you. If you start playing melee ATs from the beginning, then try any of the squishies, you will be like a fish out of water and flop around lamely until giving up and going back to the tough guys. A Blaster also teaches you the value of having a team- a new player would have a fairly tough time soloing with one. As well as learning to think about a fight and not just charging in every time.

So yes, I'd recommend a Blaster. Not because it is good (it isn't), but because of what it teaches you.

Well no, his second post is also non-constructively ranting about something he didn't like, but with some player insulting added in for flavor.

By that I mean he was non-constructively ranting about something he didn't like, which as you've said many times is against the rules.

I think I rather missed his point with all the caps and ?!?!?!

They violate the rules by your standard of the rules, which appears to be a different standard than everyone else's.

Oh wow, coulda sworn it gave a shield. Huh. Well, good reason to not take Heat- only one with no shield at all.

And yes, I'd recommend Mace if you didn't mind going villain.

I don't consider any of the attacks really worth it except for the ones that provide secondary effects. MMs have such a low damage modifier that even the fire blasts do a bit less than 30 damage at level 50.

That said, Chill Mastery is nice. It is the only one with a defense based shield, which should help greatly towards reaching the soft cap on a FF MM. Flash Freeze, though, is worthless, which means you are stuck with taking a single target blast. You also get a nice heal and +max health in Hoarfrost. Hibernate is still a good panic button, but not so much on MMs as other ATs- all your pets will still die, and the instant it goes off everything will kill you. Anyhow, you already have Personal Force Field as a panic button.

Fire gets you a resist shield. Bonfire is great fun, keeps enemies off their feet. You get a self rez, which again is rather useless on an MM. You do get Char though, which is a single target hold.

Field gives you the best resist shield for s/l, Force of Nature, and three attacks that have knockback, making them actually useful.

Charge- you get a resist shield, a single target hold... and EM Pulse, which is an epic PBAoE disorientate. Widely regarded as one of the three best hard controls in the game. The other two being EMP Arrow and Volcanic Gasses. Also you get Thunderstrike, which is a PBAoE damaging (hah) knockdown and disorientate.

So unless you really want that heal and shield, I'd go Charge.

Uh, what? It isn't even an actual proc- its an aura like the pet uniques. It's always on.

All the Catalyst does is increase the AoE def from 10% to 15%.

As for the Rularuu power, I would only use it if I get his health and powers

I bet if you actually did buy 60 million dollars worth of Paragon Points, they would have no problem making a powerset for you