UnicyclePeon

Starscape -- This is my Dark Melee / Willpower scrapper. If we had /Super Reflexes initially, thats what she would have been. OK, OK. We DID have /SR, and she WAS Dark Melee / Super Reflexes. However, she was a day 1 character, back when Super Reflexes sucked. They later buffed it, then they nerfed it again. But I tell ya, if I could have had sets and set bonuses and capped defenses in Issue 0 on Day 1 like we've got now, i would have made her DM/SR like her concept demands. Unfortunately, she is DM/WP, and way too high in level to delete now. Oh well, I still like her, its just the wrong concept.

Star Hero -- This is my Willpower / Energy Melee Tanker. I used to love him. I have HATED him ever since the nerfs to Energy Melee. It is just too awful and slow for my tastes on a Tanker. So, this one is more of a "something we used to have that we dont now" situation. So, kinda the opposite of the whole thread.

Shocklash -- This is my Gravity / Electric Dominator. Just like the above two, this one isnt quite as the thread implies. This character used to be a female Energy Melee / Electric Armor Brute. I hate EM now, tho maybe its OK for brutes still. I also used to hate /Elec Armor back then, because it had no heal. So, if I could combine the old Energy Melee with the new Electric Armor, I would almost delete my Grav/Elec to remake him as the original female brute, just to re-snag the name. I guess I still could, if it turned out I could tolerate Energy Melee. I could rename Shocklash, use it for the brute, etc.

Ah well. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with my characters.

Lewis

I am against the level going past 50. I dont mind an alternate advancement system where you can grind out a few extra slots or other specials, but I dont want to feel compelled to level a stable of 50s, that took me 5 years to get to 50, up to some new level just for them to feel complete. Blah.

Lewis

Honestly, I didn't accomplish much. I got 2 levels each on my 3-box trapper team in the mid 20s. That was Friday super late. I got them all to 25. I also got my DM/WP scrapper from 40 to 41.

Now, outside of the game, I practiced my Ballroom Dancing skills at a party, took a private lesson which improved my Waltz and Foxtrot, and I also played in a D&D game which got my character from mid-level 6 to just a couple hundred XP short of level 7. (3.5E).

I also hung out with friends in real life a whole bunch.

Good times.

Lewis

Most of the ideas I had were already listed, but I'll post them anyway. My posts are based around the idea of "most awkward" but they aren't actually bad really.

Energy/Fire Blaster ... knockback in the primary, with a secondary that prefers tight groups.

Gravity/Empathy Controller ... a primary with low/late control and a secondary that doesnt really add to control. Sure, you can buff and heal a bit, but it just seems awkward to me.

Any /Electric Blast Defender. I just find /Electric Blast to be so underwhelming. Maybe its me tho.

Dark/Energy Defender .... its hard to say that any Dark Defender is weak (except in the sense that all /Electric Blast defenders are fairly weak overall). Still this one would be awkward. Your best mitigation powers depend on foe position (Tar Patch, Darkest Night, Dark Servant somewhat) and the knockback can mess with that. Still, you could probably crush stuff if you were careful. So, this one is more of "requires high skill" than it is even "awkward" .. or so I'd think.

Other /Energy Defender combos ... I think Trick Arrow, Traps, and Radiation would be awkward primaries for /Energy Blast for the same reason as the above.

TA/AR for the redraw alone. Woof. That would drive me nuts watching that over and over.

Martial Arts / Invulnerability Scrapper ... this guy seems like he'd die a LOT until later in the game. Mostly single target damage, low mitigation, and a secondary that takes some work and some caution (in my admittedly limited experience) to really bring it up to speed.

Willpower/Energy Melee Tanker ... I'm probably biased, but I hate /EM after the nerfs some time ago. Also, when you stun stuff, they kinda wander away from you, which lowers the effectiveness of Willpower a bit. Plus, you dont have much AoE or mitigation really, and Willpower can get in over its head in serious tanking scenarios. Its probably just me tho, I have a level 50 of this combo and I just dont like it anymore.

Invulnerability / Ice ... just because it seems so slow. Also, the arrival time of the attacks, and when they need to be slotted, and the damage they do ... it just seems to all arrive at a very awkward time compared to when I'd want to do be doing certain things with the primary. Basically, I think it'd be hard to level up and a bit tedious. Thats pure conjecture tho. I admit that I sorta want to try one. I've been avoiding it. I have too many projects already.

Again, this is all opinion, and its about awkwardness and tedium more than anything else. That makes it highly subjective to say the least. They just strike me as frustrating, but I bet you could make pretty good characters from all of them with some work.

Lewis

OP,

I hate side missions too.

Lewis

Without having read the rest of the thread:

Illusion/Storm Controller
Storm/Energy Defender
Energy/Storm Corruptor
Thugs/Storm Mastermind

Dark and Sonic have guaranteed (low damage) AoE knockback cones, so the Defenders and Corruptors could go with that instead of Energy Blast.

Plant/Storm would be a contender too, just because of the AoE confuse and the Carrion Creepers creating the illusion of being chaotic.

I think a Plant/Energy/Leviathan Dominator would be kinda chaotic also, at least superficially. You'd have the confused foes running around, you'd have the Carrion Creepers knocking everything about, you'd have the knockback potential in the assault set, and you'd have Water Spout from Leviathan knocking everything around.

And finally, if it wasn't obvious, ANYTHING with Storm, even the ones not mention above.

Lewis

Welcome various new users.

To the OP, Pinnacle has a pretty cool niche community on the pinnbadges global channel (tho you have to /tell a channel op to get speaking instructions). Lots of people are doing content, especially badge related stuff.

Also, if you see anyone in the "Titans of Legend" SG, they're all me. Feel free to send me a /tell for help or a team.

Lewis

Oil Slick in Traps would be too good. It can already pretty easily softcap all its defenses, and has more tricks than you can shake a stick at (without setting something off)!

A Traps / X duo with a Trick Arrow / Archery Defender would be a nice slick of pie tho.

Lewis

I'm posting my Traps/Sonic build here, just for the heck of it. It isn't as good as Frosticus' build in several areas. Specifically, my Def to pure Psi is "only" 37.8% and my Def to pure Fire and pure Cold is only 42%. However, I am capped on everything else (Smashing, Lethal, Energy, Negative, Melee, Ranged, AoE). Also, I dont have any global recharge to speak of. I also wont actually run Tough ... its just a mule for the Steadfast. I don't mind, though.

So, my build isn't as nice as Frosticus' build. However, it is still extremely safe thanks to softcapping *almost* everything, plus I have 59% global accuracy and 10% global damage, not counting Amplify and Power Build Up. It is also pretty cheap, with exception of the Miracle and Numina, which are basically superfluous (I may even only go with the Miracle and move the Numina slot to FFG for knockback protection). Since I'm only running Hover, Weave, and Combat Jumping (the latter being negligible on end cost) then I should be good.

Here is the build. Thoughts? I'm pretty stubborn in that I like what I like, but I'd at least listen to any comments about my build.

Thanks,

Lewis

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Frosticus' build caps all the typed defenses too, though, so its all good!

Lewis

Was there a patch today?

I swore last night my Earth/Psi dom was still seeing the looking-at-sky-trapped-in-rock animation.

Lewis

I'm 42. One of the guys I used to play with (who left for CO) had a dad who played (and may still play) who was in his 60s for sure.

Lewis

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I have no girlfriend or wife, and I'm in the age bracket where being a computer gamer could be seen (incorrectly) as evidence that I'd be a bad boyfriend/husband. I'm 42. Of course, I have a small social circle, despite my recent hobby of Ballroom Dancing, so I'm having a hard time meeting women. Most of the women in my age range are still in relationships or else are still in the process of the breakup. Anyway, bottom line is, if I ever meet someone, I'll probably have to be careful to mention Ballroom Dance as my main hobby and not mention COH. At least, not at first. Around here, computer gaming is seen as a boy's hobby. The facts become irrelevant, usually, as soon as that is mentioned.

Maybe I'll meet someone who is an exception.

Lewis

I havent read the thread to see if someone has suggested this, but I'd want to go with either the Dr Vahz story that you play through at lower levels, or else the Clockwork King stories (the low level one where you learn about whats going on with the clockwork).

Lewis

Yeah, I love earth control, but I dont find Volcanic Gasses to be as strong as it used to be. Some quasi-recent change somehow nerfed how the individual pets work I think. I always have to back up VG with something else. I used to be able to just drop it and not worry, even on many Bosses. Now it seems that I'm still getting lots of pot shots from foes in the VG even through out the whole duration (not just alpha).

So, yeah, I love Earth Control, and Earth/Empathy is a lot of fun, but somehow Earth isnt like it used to be.

Lewis

Yeah, making Controller alts is addictive. Some of the Control sets I dont quite like enough to make every combination, but there are a lot of good ones out there. Enjoy!

Lewis

I'm about 7 pages late to this thread, but what the heck, I'll post anyway.

Back when AE farms were big, I did some AE farming of my own. However, I didn't do Boss farms or any of the expoit (Mito) farming, other than once or twice to see what the hoopla was all about. No, my farming was to take a favorite map, load it up with canon (official, non-custom) foes that I find more or less non-tedious, and then start whackin' 'em. I'd get together with a couple of friends (all of us have at least 3 accounts) and we'd pile on a bit 8-man team just doing canon mobs. Good times, and lots of XP and tickets. Farm-tastic. Maybe not crazy farmtastic (no Boss maps or exploits) but good stuff nonetheless. That was before the I16 nerfs.

Now that all-boss farms are gone and custom critters dont give good XP, I find that since I was already used to "dev approved" levels of AE farming, I can still farm the AE for pretty much the same results before, except now its easier thanks to super sidekicking and the difficulty setting stuff.

So, I'm still not sure why people don't AE farm more. There is still good fun and crazy XP to be had, and door sitting or actually contributing are both easier than ever. Even the tickets I get are coming at the same (non-broken) rate I was used to since I wasnt running the "abusive" stuff anyway.

That said, I have been doing non-AE stuff more, but thats just because some of the new powerset proliferation things are pretty exciting and so I'm actually working 1 contact per zone (and doing newspapers otherwise).

So, to me, the AE farm nerfs worked, but I dont quite understand why. Its still very lucrative and ideally set up for the lazy (or for people like me who actually enjoy repetition). I guess people decided they might as well farm for purples also.

Lewis

I've played Fire/Emp, Earth/Emp and Illusion/Emp all to level 50. I've played Ice/Empathy to level 36. I like them all quite a bit, though Ice/Emp left me a bit cold.

My problem with Ice/Empathy is more about Ice Control itself (the primary). The type of control it brings to the table leaves me a bit unsatisfied unless it is paired with a strong control secondary. That's why I haven't played mine past level 36 yet.

All of the other three were awesome.

I think the Illusion/Empathy combo is the more ultimate stealth / aggro-free team support character. You can totally lay back, keeping everyone alive and keeping the foes distracted with little overall risk to yourself. Illusion/Empathy makes me feel like I am hanging back and playing a guardian angel type character. I teamed most of the time, but thanks to PA and Phantasm and Deceive, soloing was an option that I did indulge in (from time to time) at pretty much all phases of my career.

The Earth/Empathy character is just as strong as Illusion/Empathy in terms of team support, but there is no question (to your allies or your enemies) that you are there. Basically, Earth Control is a massive "HERE I AM" control set, which has so much going for the primary that you can feel like an uber controller no matter what secondary you have. I teamed all the way from 1-50 and I almost never soloed, though I was able to do so from 34 on (I didnt bother slotting up personal attacks until I got my level 41+ ancillary options).

Fire/Empathy is a special case for me. I'm discussing it last because I have the most rambling comments to make about it. It was the first Empath I ever played. Fire/Empathy was the build that converted me from "Empathy?! BAH!" to "Hey, this is pretty cool." I had this project (which I completed) where I was taking all the Fire/X controllers to level 50, so eventually I got to this one. I started out playing it grudgingly. On the other hand, I was curious, and I wanted to learn the set, so I didnt really worry about the damage potential I could have had with Hot Feet and Fire Cages and personal attacks (Ring of Fire, Air Superiority). Instead, I played this one with a touch of Char and Flashfire (and occasionally Bonfire). I didnt worry about Cinders or Hot Feet at all. I leaned heavily on the Empathy powers instead. Basically, I played this one as 100% team support without thought of personal damage, even after I got Fire Imps. I ignored my own personal damage capabilities for a long time.

Eventually, I think around level 39 or 40, I found that Fire/Empathy was a great middle ground between solo and team support. I decided to use a respec to opt back into Hot Feet. I tricked out all my powers to where I could support a team, or support myself and my Fire Imps while killing things on my own. I quickly added a few ancillary attacks in the 40s, and the ability to solo became even better. Of course, I had my Empathy foundations, so I could kick back, team it up, and play less aggressively as well. I found that I played 50% solo and 50% team support with my Fire/Empathy character from that point on.

So, I guess the Fire/Empathy is probably my favorite, due to the more hybrid feel. However, it is a close call. Earth and Illusion are my favorite primaries overall, so Illusion/Emp and Earth/Emp are certainly up there. Maybe Fire/Empathy has a special feeling to me because it was my first.

Anyway, you'll just have to dive in. You might not like them at all, or you may have different reasons for liking them. I'm sure there will be Ice/Emp, Grav/Emp, Mind/Emp and Plant/Emp players who love theirs. I do have to say that Grav/Emp seems like it would be a slice of hell (in the bad way) to me. It doesnt seem like it would have enough control for me, esp at the levels during which I'm most likely to quit. On the other hand, I'm sure somebody out there loves theirs.

So, pick yer poison!

Lewis

I was about to come on here, and suggest Grav/Storm, Grav/Rad, and possibly Grav/Trick Arrow. Looks like some folks beat me to it.

Lewis