OneWhoBinds

This may just be me reading too much into things, but based on some of the hints I've seen about i19 content? I think several Zones are getting face lifts... in the "the Praetorians came through and completely trashed the area!" way.

I'm sure there would be more to it, than just this. But a massive revamp of only a few 'normal' zones would have a huge impact on the game. And such a huge change might warrant this kind of NDA.

You know... if Broad Sword and Katana ever get ported to Brutes and Tanks... two things must happen.

Scrappers and Stalkers must get to play with Axes and Maces.

And Axes will need to get looked at by the devs to bring it up to par, I think... 'cause Broad Sword and Katana will blow it away, as is, regardless of what they do to Parry.

Don't forget to include an assault set fit for a 'natural' character... Throwing knives and Martial Arts attacks? Or maybe just break down and use an assault rifle with pummel and bayonet included?

While I obviously have different opinions about what would be beneficial to take (I think that the Medicine pool for Aid Other and Aid Self, and Hasten, will benefit you more than the Fighting pool and Flying pools...) There is one major issue I see.

Your Protector Bots aren't going to be doing much protecting with that slotting. Why? Because they will be constantly out of endurance!

I know you probably don't want to do this, but drop Edict Defense bonus enhancement for either the Damage/Endurance or Accuracy/Endurance from Blood Mandate. Or, even better, use a generic Endurance Reduction IO, so that the endurance discount applies when the Protector Bot is healing and bubbling, too...

Things I would like to see...

Staves and Polearms, of course.

A thrown weapons blaster set - a combination of Lethal and Smashing ranged attacks, using thrown daggers, shuriken, boomerangs, and such...

Some kind of 'Natural' Control set - I might not play much with Controllers or Dominators, but they are the only basic archetypes that don't have some kind of set combination that I can say, "Yeah, that's just a guy with a lot of training and hard work behind him." (Flip gender as needed...) Similarly, Dominators will need some kind of 'Natural' assault set... maybe combining Martial Arts attacks with either thrown weapons or pistols?

...

Dual Clubs. Just 'cause I like Escrima.

A Water based control and buffing set. Maybe a blasting set as well. I can't really conceive of a 'water melee' or 'water armor' set...

A 'Probability Manipulation' Buff/Debuff set. It's really the only place I think such powers would fit...

Some new Mastermind sets would be nice, but I can't really think of anything that would really work well off the top of my head...

A 'Swinging' Travel pool.

...

Yeah, I think that's it.

Something I don't want to really see is a 'Psychic Melee' or 'Psychic Armor' sets. I think the first defeats the concept of having a psychic ("I can melt your brain with the power of my mind! So let me walk up right next to you so you can rip my face off as I reduce your IQ to that of a lizard...") and the latter just screams to me as being a set predestined to suck (Okay, so you're practically immune to Psychic damage... what are you giving up for that protection? I can just see it being a very worrisome Smashing/Lethal hole...)

Just my opinion, of course...

I have to admit that I am somewhat mystified here...

Not by the complaints, but by what people have actually been doing.

Team ToT? Actually taking on the Deadly Apocalypse, not just ignoring it?

Wow... I feel entirely gypped.

Here I spend all weekend farming things solo, trying to find a team... and I can't find enough people in the zones to put together a full team.

Is this just the whole Red Side vs. Blue Side thing? Or is this an Under level 40 thing? Because my Brute was having no luck in the Rogue Isles...

Now all I need are Deadly Apocalypse badges (and the ones for the Unseelie, but I wouldn't be holding my breath over that one...) and I swear there is no way I'll be getting those any time soon...

(PS - for anyone ToTing in the Rouge Isles, 30-40 range - the doors inside the Golden Giza in St. Martial are an excellent place to do so. The doors in the hallways may look like double doors, but each side counts as a separate door for knocking, and you don't have to stop for any event outside...)

On Victory Red Side, I haven't seen a Zombie apocalypse team yet that had more than 5 people. And I haven't seen a Deadly Apocalypse team at all (much to my chagrin, as those are the only Halloween badges I still need...)

I haven't checked out Blue Side or Praetoria yet, though... but I suspect that the latter is where everyone is...

Once again, I find myself contemplating a new character (ah, Altaholsim, you are the reason I shan't be running any End Game content any time soon...)

So, I'm looking at a Rad/Elec blaster. But I've got a few questions that I haven't found an answer for while searching through the boards... (it seems while a lot of people find the combination awesome... they don't much talk about the powers...)

First off, I can already tell that this combination will work best mid-to-close range. (I don't play Blappers, but I can tell that I need to be able to get in close for all the PBAoE attacks...)

That said, what would be a recommendation for the level 4 power pick? I mean, sure, I probably want Irradiate eventually, but is it a wise choice to have that early? Or will it bring more aggro than it is worth?

As I'm not planning on Blapping as a focus, would Charged Brawl even be worth taking at all?

Similarly, will Lightning Field be worth the Endurance cost to run it, if I'm not surrounding myself with enemies? Also, can it be used with Power Sink to sap enemy endurance like the version in /Electric Armor can? Or is the End drain component of Lightning Field too low for that?

Is Lightning Clap a good 'Oh $#!&' power, or is it a valueless on this AT as it is on others?

Finally, are there any power pools I should be looking into in particular? I'm planning on taking flight with this character at the moment, but that's still not set in stone...

And, of course, any general or build advise will be appreciated...

Thanks, all!

Considering the APPs...

Arctic is only really good for its slows. This might have some value if Brutes had access to either Ice sets, but as they don't... there's nothing to recommend this set. Take it for concept reasons, maybe, but otherwise, leave it alone.

Earth is very control based. If you want to be a kind of controller-Brute, go for it. To be honest, though? All those controls are going to murder your Fury. (Frankly, they should have replaced Salt Crystals with Stone Spears... A control-oriented APP made sense for a Tank, but doesn't for a Brute...)

Energy is good for its utility... or if you want to shoot lasers from your eyes. The real gems are Superior Conditioning and Physical Perfection - the first raises your total endurance, the second gives a small boost to you Health Regeneration and Endurance Recovery rates. These can be a godsend to Brutes with an endurance heavy Primary/Secondary combination. Heck, Stone Melee alone can warrant picking up one of these - it can easily run even a /Willpower Brute down on Endurance. The powers are also attractive because you don't need many (if any) slots in them...

Pyre is for damage. You want to throw fire around, you grab this set. Unfortunately, getting to the power you WANT (Fire Ball), means getting two other powers, at least one of which you probably don't want. But hey, Fire Blast and Fire Ball!

ALL these sets suffer a lot from being designed for a different AT, and just kludged onto Brutes. As it is, barring concept reasons, I could only recommend Energy or Pyre on a Brute... and Pyre is kinda iffy. Energy, at least, fills a niche that makes it attractive to certain Brutes, maybe even over the PPPs. Still, overall, the PPPs are much better choices for a Brute...

Got to agree with most of DarkMaster's post.

A DM/EA Brute - especially one taking Stamina as well, ALREADY has a more Endurance than they know what to do with. Dark Consumption, Energy Drain, and Stamina make any additional Endurance boosting - like Superior Conditioning, or the +Recovery IO in health - almost criminally redundant.

Actually, that IO is a bad choice. If you are going for a single IO, at least go for Numina's Unique... But I think Regenerative Tissue's +Regen Unique would serve this character better in total.

Weave will help a lot, I highly suggest picking it up. That alone should take help your overall defense immensely.

As a personal suggestion, put the +3% Def IO in one of the Auto powers - Dampening Field, for example. Sure, you'll loose one point of resistance, but I think that would be a more optimal arrangement...

Speaking of which, if you can stand farming it up (It's what, 35 Hero/Villain Merits?), there is a second +3% Defense Resistance IO in the PVP set. While the Teleportation protection is redundant, it might be worth the effort. Combined with CJ, your existing defenses, and Weave instead of taunt... all together, this should get you at least up to 20% Psionic Defense, which is about the point where Defense starts actually meaning something... Not to mention just shy of 30% Defense to all positions, which is even better vs. most psychic attacks.

Snag Overload. It is that good, and Energy Aura often needs to rely on its god-mode power to keep going.

All together though, this will be a very solo-oriented character. Dark Melee does not lend itself to large teams, and Energy Aura is the same. You can build up a significant amount of protection with this (insanely expensive) build, although you will still find that anything that gets through is going to cut you down fast.

Good luck!

While I think the BEST thing would be take Energy Aura back to the Drawing Board and hash it out with a fresh perspective... I have to admit that such an effort is probably not needed to make the set functional.

There are four powers in the set that can easily be altered without risking the cottage rule: Dampening Field, Entropy Shield, Energy Protection, and Conserve Power.

First, the Auto Powers. Right now, they are the only auto powers left in a defense set that ONLY provide resistance. While boosting the resist values would be nice, I doubt that will happen... but some added perks would make these much more attractive. +HP come readily to mind, but I suspect that may be a pipe dream. Recovery and Endurance Debuff resistance and Recharge Debuff Resistance is more likely. It won't be much, but it will be something...

Second, Entropy Shield - the only toggle shield that ha no enhanceable effects. This provides status protection, and nothing else - which means its a primary spot where we can fill in something for added survivability. Again, +HP or +Regen would be nice... additional Resistance is more likely. So... 11% Resistance to Smashing/Lethal/Toxic damage, 15% Resistance to Energy? Combine those with the Auto resists, and you've got some numbers that actually mean something...

Conserve Power - this needs to go the way its counterpart in Electric Armor did. However, Energy Aura already has a heal kludged into Energy Drain... so instead, how about turning it into this:

Optimize Efficiency: You can optimize the flow of energy inside your body for a short time, increasing your damage and recharge rate, while decreasing the endurance cost you pay; Effects are a 60% Endurance cost reduction, a 25% Damage boost, and a 30% decrease in Recharge Rates.

These would provide two of the critical things the set is missing: another layer of protection for when defenses fail, and a way to increase the user's offense. Agro control will still suck, but I don't think there's anything we can do about that in a set where the included stealth power isn't just a perk, but a necessity.

I think the big issue with Energy Aura is that it is armor plating over tissue paper.

It provides some good defense values... and nothing else. The Resistance Values you can get out of the auto powers is meaningless. The only utility powers the set provides are Stealth (often considered counter-productive to Brute game play, and yet needed to enhance your defense...) and Endurance Management. While the basically unlimited blue bar is nice, Energy Drain and Conserve Power don't add much to keeping your Green Bar intact.

(Yes, a heal was added to Energy Drain. No, it doesn't really make a difference until you actually achieve the soft cap)

This doesn't even go into the wasteful powers... the end result is that to GET the proper amount of protection, this set needs to run 4 toggles, where most other sets use 3.

If you want a defense-based character, Super Reflexes provides far more coverage, and has actually useful utility powers. If you want unlimited Endurance, Electric Armor is a far better choice, providing actual protection from Endurance Drain as well as essentially unlimited endurance.

I have seen the set played and working great... but it requires a lot of time, effort, and significant IO investment. For that last reason alone, the set should really get another look at and overhaul...

Call Mr. G, and after some dialogue, the next mission will open. The door to it will be Underground, and shouldn't be far away from where you exit the last mission from.

This is usually good, unless you were like me, and found yourself in need of leveling & selling after the first part...

Quick Rundown of the secondaries:

Dark - Excellent source of controls and debuffs. Includes its own pet (uncontrollable) that acts as its own Dark Miasma wielder. The downside to the set is that several powers were nerfed on the Mastermind version, so if you are used to the Defender or Corruptor versions, you are in for several nasty shocks. Healing your pets may also be an issue - fortunantly, the Ember Demon is good for helping out with that.

Force Fields - Good for +Def and knocking things around. It also provides mez protection in the Dispersion Bubble. The down side is in constantly reapplying the buffs, and that... it has nothing else. Defense and Knockback, and that's it. Good for tanking, not so much for anything else.

Pain Domination - Excellent source of healing, with some powerful buffs as well. It also provides a single PBAoE debuff, that you will be using a lot. Downsides are that it is a very reactive set, and one that, in my experience, means you have to concentrait more on keeping your pets alive than buffing or debuffing. (Or using the attacks, on a Demon Summoner) That may just be me, though.

Poison - Excellent source of Single Target debuffs. Not so good at AoE debuffs. This is an absolute killer on the single hard targets, but you don't have many options when faced with large groups of enemies.

Storm Summoning - Nice selection of debuffs and some ally buffs as well. Doesn't mesh as well as Dark, but not bad at all. However, it is very easy to screw things up with one if its keay powers (Hurricane), so you need to learn how to use it well before trying to team with it...

Thermal Radiation - Well Balanced set that provides a bit of everything. The Shields will help you a lot but you've got to keep reapplying them every 4 minutes. The only other drawback is that its debuffs only come very late. Still, if you can stand the buffing chore, then Thermal is an excellent set.

Traps - An excellent set that revolves around using other devises to provide buffs or debuffs. The only drawback here is how long it can take to set some traps up, and the lack of a direct heal. Still, this is an excellent set to accompany any primary.

Trick Arrow - Various tricks delivered at range by a pointy stick. Very action oriented set, as you've end up constantly debuffing. Also, the set again lacks a heal, and has a power that tends to play havok with your pets' AI. I've seen the set played well, but in general, there are better sets to use...

All this is just my own opinion, of course.