Vauluur

I'm a Mids addict. I spend at least 4 times the amount of time I do in game making builds on Mids that never actually make it to live.

Also, I plan to continue doing this even if the servers do go dark

A number of these may or may not already be on the list, but I have to post them to feel confident that I might get an answer:

1. The Dark Watcher: What happened to him when he disappeared? Was he trapped, lost? What dimension was he trapped in? What kind of horrible things happened to him that made him so hostile to Statesman when they first saw each other again? (Comics) Also, what exactly are his powers? The main one appears to be teleportation but the Web of Arachnos novel implied possibly Illusion, is that true?
2. Hero 1: He was always one of my favorite characters, and his return as Honoree was incredibly exciting to me. Was there a plan in the works, as was hinted at in the game, to bring him back to a de-Riktified (or less Riktified) state? If so, had it been considered how that was going to be done and/or what role Hero 1 would then play? Was he going to be our new Statesman?
3. Dream Doctor/Ouroboros: Does Dream Doctor know that Silos is Nemesis? Who/what was/is Jocas? What atrocity did Silos/Nemesis commit in the future that changed him into a seemingly benign being? What is Ramiel's significance, and what loyalties or disloyalties does he hold (he seemed to be on almost even footing with Silos)?
4. The Rikti: How did they beat the Battalion? With Rikti incarnates? Were there plans to bring the Rikti Traditionalists in as allies for Primal Earth in our own fight against the Battalion?
5. The Battalion: What's with that anyway? One entity, an alien race, robots? Any idea of what they would look like or how they would be more menacing to players than standard enemies (i.e. an even higher Battalion softcap or unresistable damage ala Hami)?
6. The Shivans: What was going on with them? I thought they were kind of a hive mind up until they started talking recently, so I guess they are individuals? Great Mother/Dark Father? Some connection to the Battalion?
7. The Well: Who was it? It was strongly indicated by Prometheus that the Well of the Furies was an actual being (if not person). Was it someone we met, or a mythical figure we've heard of?
8. Rularuu: What were the plans for Rularuu/the Shadow Shard? It was previously stated that Rularuu had consumed a multitude of dimsensions, but more recently was hinted that Dream Doctor and Rularuu were closely tied. Did they share some sort of common origins?

Count me in, I'm not about to roll over.

The boards were suggested on the Titan Network forums, but are not currently administered by Titan Network. The idea is to avoid swarming Titan with additional responsibilities now that they've taken on the mantle of trying to save the game itself. This way they can focus on that and the community can still remain together.

As many of you probably know, the Titan Network is working hard to figure out our options here. Some are hopeful and short term. Others are a long road, but one that might need to be walked.

Whatever the case may be, it's vital that the wonderful community surrounding this game stays together. To that end, a brand new forum is being created by myself and others to serve as our new home.

Currently, the boards are very much under construction, but I wanted everyone to know that they exist and I invite everyone to register and start building discussions. Anyone that wants to volunteer their assistance is welcome to do so as well of course.

http://www.cohforever.org/index.php

Thanks Posi! You've been great, you really have. Speaking of what you had planned...if we fail in our efforts and everything really does go dark, can you post that stuff somewhere? I still have so many questions that will now never be answered

Well, on a Rad/Mental there isn't actually much that i24 would change for me. Proton Volley becomes a strong attack with 24% To Hit. The only way you'll get there solo is with Aim or Concentration. Depending on your recharge rate, that's probably often enough to take it. I wouldn't say it's something absolutely necessary for you though.

As far as what to build for, it depends on how you want to play. It is possible to create an effective at range build for the character. In that case you should go for ranged softcap and a comfortable amount of recharge in your set bonuses. If you take Force Mastery you can use Repulsion Bomb to safely enter melee range and use DP while your foes stand back up.

One note though, when i24 hits your set combination will be a PBAoE monster. The nuke change will mean you can enter melee and fire off Drain Psyche -> Irradiate/Neutron Bomb -> Psychic Shockwave -> Atomic Blast. If my understanding is correct, you'll be able to do that every spawn. I would suggest Mace Mastery in that case. Using Scorpion Shield (which you'll be able to recolor to taste) you can softcap S/L/E and deal your insane AoE damage in relative safety. Any attacks that do hit you will regenerate quickly with a well slotted and saturated Drain Psyche.

Electric Armor is certainly the easier of the two to make, and would be very tough.

Dark Armor would be tricky and expensive, but essentially immortal. The key is managing your endurance costs.

Have you considered going TW/SR, TW/Electric, or TW/Dark?

There's not really anything wrong exactly with TW/EA. I just don't see a great deal of synergy there. The three combos I'm suggesting have a much greater synergy IMO.

TW/SR should be fairly easy to incarnate softcap to all three positions. It has the added bonus of not requiring you to put away your weapon once you've toggled up (except, perhaps, to use Aid Self) which works well with TW because of the momentum mechanic. The downside to this combination is that you won't have much in the way of resistances or heals. Taking Aid Self (especially with the coming pool changes, which will make the prereqs more useful) and Tough will help with this issue somewhat. The scaling resists in SR probably won't save you when they kick in, but they will give you enough time to pop a green or get an Aid Self off.

TW/Electric is conceptually similar to EA, but a superior pairing. While EA and TW both provide extra defense, the only stacking you can get from them is Smashing. That's not a particularly useful damage type to have high defense to. Elec provides solid layered protection. It has high resists and a strong heal, as well as endurance management tools for the end hog that is TW. The magic of the pairing comes from TW allowing you to easily softcap melee defense. All of that together means a pretty sturdy character. One final bonus is the damage aura, which will be able to finish off enemies for "free" after your AoEs have been fired off.

TW/Dark has similar benefits to Electric, but is even more survivable I'd argue. It has a control aura in the form of either Oppressive Gloom or Cloak of Fear (I'd suggest Oppressive Gloom). It has the sickeningly powerful Dark Regeneration (don't forget your Theft of Essence proc). Most importantly, it has high resistances (though, disappointingly, low Energy resistance). Of course, the caveat with this combination is that in order to use all the powerful tools you need endurance, and a lot of it. With a well planned build and/or incarnate powers you won't have to worry at all. Prior to that point, you'll need a lot of blues.

As I said before, it's not that EA doesn't work. It's a great set. I just think a different choice would give you more of what you were looking for.

I'll probably go with Energy/MC. Not really for any particular synergy. Mostly just because it will let me focus a lot more on my secondary by skipping a bunch of Energy Blast powers.

So, as several of you probably remember by now, my main is a Broadsword/Invuln that I frequently change builds on. It's becoming a major drain on my free VIP points, so I'd like to get a solid build together that I'm happy with long term. To do that, I set the following goals for myself:

1. Perma Dull Pain
2. S/L/E/N Softcap with 1 foe in melee range
3. Melee Softcap with 1 Parry
4. 75% S/L Resist
5. 30% E/N/F/C Resist
6. Sustainable Endurance
7. 30% constant damage bonus with Assault

Not all of those goals are met in the current version of my build, and I'm having a hard time deciding if I'm trying to get too much or just not seeing where I can fit more. I've gotten to this so far on my own, but I'm running out of ideas:

Well, these have all been interesting responses. I'm reluctant to go Bots/Traps because 2 out of 3 masterminds that I see on my server (which isn't a lot of masterminds to be honest) are Bots/Traps. Considering the input from this thread, I think I've narrowed it down to:

Ninja/Time/Mu - I realize I'd be missing out on Power Boost here, but the concept doesn't include an Arachnos Mace - besides, I like Mu Mastery. This combo seems like it'd be a pretty solid one, despite the relative frailty of the pets. I'm a bit wary of the leveling experience though. Before I get all my tools for personal/pet survival, it seems like it could be a very rough ride.

Thugs(or Bots)/Pain/Any - Both Bots and Thugs seem like a good pairing for Pain Domination, and I'll admit that I found Deacon's reasoning solid. Conceptually, I could actually make either set work but I'm leaning a bit towards Thugs. I also worry about the leveling experience of both combos, because I tried leveling a Bots/Pain once and got bored with it pretty early on.

Mercs/Dark/Any - I know, I know. Mercs are bad. But looking at the secondary sets, I think you'd be hard pressed to find one that would match better than Dark. This combo has the advantage of getting Twilight's Grasp and Darkest Night very early, allowing me to get a taste of the finished product a little sooner than the other combos. This, I think, is my favorite option. Would it be a major failure or would it be decent?

I think I'd like to add a Tankermind to my growing list of alts. I'm curious to find out more from veteran MMs about what powersets to take for that purpose, and what sort of slotting options I'll want to look at. For example, should I be trying to get my pets to high def or res when I'm tanking for them? Or would it be better to just get my own def/res the highest I can?

As for powersets, I really have no idea what set combination might be best. Traps, FF, and Sonic look most attractive at first glance because of the self mez protection. Time, however, is a strong contender as well since it seems to offer the most in terms of personal survival. Dark might not be a bad choice either, and I have a hunch that Storm could be a lot better than I'd expect. For the pets, I'd want something thematically and mechanically appropriate (a tall order I know) for the secondary. Mercs seems like a set that could become a lot better if played as a Tankermind. Ninjas also seems like it'd gain a lot. Robots, Thugs, and Demons I've continuously heard wonderful things about. Beast, on the other hand, I've heard has a relatively low damage due to having few attacks. Personally, I don't have enough experience with any of the sets to really be able to judge how effective they will be for tanking.

There are two caveats to my quest though. The first is that the set combination must be fun from levels 1-50. I have a lot of alts and not a lot of play time. It might be a significant amount of time before I have all the bells and whistles. So something that is meh until level 38 and then is godlike probably won't ever hit level 38. The second caveat is that I need to have space in my build for pool powers. The coming changes are opening up a lot of concepts and ideas, so I need the wiggle room to squeeze in pool power choices I like. That means that I need to have a few powers that I can live without. A secondary that requires all of its powers to get the same effect as one or two powers from another set (I'm looking at you Trick Arrow) might not give me that extra space. That doesn't mean I'll ignore posts about those sets. It just means that those sets will be a tougher sell.

Thanks in advance to anyone who offers up their thoughts on the subject.

Traps is pretty much always better on a Corr. The damage of Defender Time Bomb doesn't even match Corr Trip Mine.

If you pair it with another set, and team at least a moderate amount, I would say go Defender (Radiation Emission could be a very good choice). Defenders are almost invariably better for a team than a Corr, though certain sets do present anomalies (Traps being one of them).

For an example Dark/Traps concept, might I suggest looking into the trainer (I forget his name) on Striga Isle? His powersets differ, but his dark powers come from a nanite he developed that releases the form of matter/energy responsible for the power effects. It seems to mesh well with a Dark Blast/Traps character.