Wicked_Wendy

Play ... TANK

Play on my team .. Tank

I am not sure what strategy or builds some of you are using out there but my Tanks solo quite nicely thank you. In fact when I am feeling frisky I will practice herding on solo missions and have as many as 9 or 12 villains pounding away while I yawn and systematically pound them into mush. On a team they love nothing better than being surrounded by baddies pounding away while the team picks away at the mob which for the most part is ignorng all of them completely.

Don't get me wrong Brutes are great and I play one on TV err I mean on COV. But I can't see her standing toe to toe with the likes of Jurassik. Yawning as the car on the end of that tree truck he carries around crash down on top of her repeatedly. My SD/SS Tank took on Kraken a while back, long ago before hitting 47 and amusing myself by soloing every Rikti mission I could find, and while the battle was raging the Zombies decided to pay Perez Park a visit. By the time the battle was done I not only had the badge for Kraken but all 4 of the ones for a Zombie invasion YAWN .. hey Kraken if you need more help here's my cell phone call Babbage and see if he's available. hehehe

Okay seriously Brutes do what they do well but they are a sort of half tank/half scrapper .. great for dealing damage but anyone that has done an ITF will tell you.. A brute does not have the same aggro control ability that a tank does. If its all that's available fine but if we can find 2 tanks PLEASE invite them both.

*smacks him hard along side of his head*

What are ya nutz? LOL Look if you have influence you just can't seem to find anything to spend then give it to me. Frankly the new systems that are in place now IMO are fantastic. You are right under the old system the only ones with any considerable INF were 50 levels. The rest of us slowly managed to enhance our characters, unless we had a REALLY good buddy that was a 50 and gave us INF, and longed for the day when we might actually have the best enhancements in every slot. To illustrate I took a 6 month break some time ago and returned when a friend from another game decided to give COH a try. While I was gone the IO system went into effect. I returned and found myself with brand new characters on Virtue because that is where my friend started his. Okay at first I viewed the IO system as a time lag set up to slow us down in leveling and make us play longer because every time I turned around I had all this salvage to get rid of, Then suddenly I realized all my characters had millions in INF and depending on their level were completely geared out in DOs or SOs and that included characters still in their teens level wise.

I decided to pay my old characters on Infinity a visit one day and found 30 and even 40 level characters still running around with a combination of SOs, DOs, and TOs.. yeah I said TOs as in training origin and the reason for this situation.. it was all they could afford at that time.

The invention system may have forced us to take time out to buy or sell or craft but it also created millionaires as low as level 12 or 13 and because of that those characters were stronger, faster, better and level quicker.

Then they added the Merit system and I jumped happily onto that bandwagon. At present I have 2 SG that I run and both have 8 inspiration collectors filled with 100 of each type of tier 3 inspiration know to "super powered" man. Once again the new system made the game easier.. salvage, recipes and now even inspirations could be obtained without spending any influence at all.

Now the MA system has begun and added tickets to the mix. I have completely enhances characters using nothing BUT tickets earned and saved countless amounts of INF which I am now using to purchase IOs, IO salvage and IO recipes to make my characters even faster, stronger and better.

Do I long for the so called GOOD OLD DAYS? No way! The game is a lot more enjoyable now than it used to be. Oh and as a small side benefit I can't recall the last time I passed through Atlas Park and saw someone standing around begging for influence in broadcast. Back in those GOOD OLD DAYS I can recall thinking and even posting.. "Here's an idea get off you lazy butt and go run some missions and earn some like the rest of us." Oh from what I hear the beggers are still out there but no where near as many and they do their begging in tells not openly because everyone else is so rich they'd be embarassed to admit they are dead broke.

With all the other bugs and small things that need to be fixed why pick an area that is working just fine in the opinion of, I am betting, the majority of the players. No one wants to go back to living at the debt cap so they can attempt to earn more INF before they level up and need new enhancements. No one wants to go back to trying to attack AVs, GMs, or whatever with nothing but training origin enhancements in their slots.. if anything at all.

Things are JUST fine the way they are let's not fix a system that isn't broken.. we have enough broken ones to deal with as it is.

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If I'm representative of the entire scrapper population, then the most popular primaries are Katana and Broad Sword, with 22% of the scrapper population each, and the least popular primary is Martial Arts, which not a single person plays, despite forum claims to the contrary.

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*sobs openly * Not realizing she was not a person and wondering how she managed to obtain an account with COH and why why WHY she ever created not 0ne but Two MA/Regen scrappers LOL

For me more and more of my characters are magic oriented for several reasons..
1) as stated it gives a very reasonable explanations for their powers. A mage can heal, cast spells (including ones that allow flight since all my charcaters use that as a travel power) so have super powers based on magic makes sense

2) Concept I have a BS/SD Scrapper that is a Valkyre.. She has been given her powers by the God Thor so being magic oriented just makes sense. I have a DM/SD Scrapper that is the same way No not a Valkyre but a fighting mage of sorts that casts spells allowing her to drain end, life, etc from an opponent and use that to enhance her ability to continue to fight.

3) My vet bouses. After some careful testing, okay not so careful, I discovered that in the hands of a magic oriented character a black wand temp power is much more accurate than a nemesis staff in the hands of a tech or science based one. So now a lot more of my newer characters are magic based where before they were Naturals, Techs or Science. Hey I even base my selection of Non combat pets on origin.. Magic oriented get Red Caps or Demons and I lean more toward Red Caps, while Tech and Science get Mech men or Clockwork, Mutants lean toward Rikti Monkeys and Naturals just take whatever they dang well think is cute. LOL

DO I think COH is over run with them? No and while I have seen posts here in the past saying groups like the COT or BP should be removed cause this isn't WOW or D and D I don't agreee. Magic based heroes were around in comics long before either of those games ever existed and not having them and villain groups that use magic as well is cutting off an aspect of the game that should exist simply because the game is based on comic books and there are heroes in comics that get their powers from magc and face enemies that use it as well.

BUZZZZZZ NO WAY First of all I run 3 different SGs and the leader of each is one of my 50 levels. So I have no derire to go to some Heroes retirement home and sit around talking about the old days. I have bases to build, rent to pay, lower level characters I support with the influence I earn running TFs, Etc, and they are always coming out with new content I WANT to experience. A 50 level can do all 4 of the story arcs provided by the contacts in the RWZ and then the LGTF. A 50 level can do the entire Midnighter's club arc to gain access to Cimerora and then do the ITF. 50 level CAN do Mothership and Hami raids. 50 levels can do Time Travel missions through the Ouroborus portal and pick up any content they may have missed on the way up. Saying there is nothing for a 50 level to do is JUST not vaild and suggesting they all be removed? NO WAY

NOW you want to revise that idea and say after doing this epic (end game) mission of yours they continue to exist and can do anything they desire BUT as a reward for attaining the highest level of excellence in game they no long count against my maximum number of available character slot so I have more room for additional new characters then fine. But like many others I worked too hard and too long to attain them to have them simply stripped from the game.

I realize your heart is in the right place with this idea.. you want to find a way to curb some of the cheats in game but realistically that would NOT do it. Think about it for a second what is the difference between a 49 level and a 50? Basically 3 enhancements and a bit more Hit points. These days any player can go into options and simply select .. NO XP so if you get rid of all the 50s those players you are trying to eliminate will simply become perma-49 levels and PL and farm to their hearts content. With IO in every slot they'd be missing very little of the benefits provided by the one extra level so you see it just wouldn't help a bit and will only puinsh those of us that don't do those things.

I do like this idea as an add on because as you explained it allows me to see how players are fairing as they run my stories.

I don't think we need to get rid of the star system although I would like to have a way to break that down better for review. okay I have 3 published stories holding at 4 stars but what does that mean EXACTLY? Is my actual rating 3.75? 4.2? I forget exactly what the criteria is for HOF but I think it's 4.5? So how do I know IF I have that extra half a star? Possibly they could add a clickable pull down menu that lets me see exactly how many people gave me 5 stars, 4 stars, etc and exactly what my rating truly is. Doesn't seem like this should be too hard to accomplish. If they have set a standard requiring 3.5 4.5 or whatever obviously they must have a way set up for them to review that and award HOF to those that earn it. Give me that same option so I know exactly how I am doing.

I know what you mean and I have also noticed a trend lately.. players will join a TF and then after a few missions suddenly without a word just QUIT. This has happened on a couple of Moonfires I have done recently and prompted me to wonder if they were just there to get in those first couple missions in with tons of Warwolves and Vamprii so they could finish up what they needed for the Atlas Medallion.

Another thing that drives me insane is the ones that join and even after the leader explains "Okay we have X number of missions and this usually takes 2-3 hours" They run a couple of missions and suddenly its "Sorry guys I had no idea this would take so long I have to go. RL issues" Were you PAYING ATTENTION at all before we started? Most recent was a Synapse and the only Defender and only player with any heals or buffs quits after mission 4. Okay you can get by on a Synapse with sheer firepower and we did just that but even so the TF leader remarked.. "You're kidding me right? We NEED you!" I wonder sometimes what goes through people's heads when they do stuff like that. In all my time here in game I have never purposely left a TF .. with one exception I was having serious connection issues and I'd get inside a mission and could not get a single attack to fire. Tried /sync, tried /unloadgfx, even tried logging off and rebooting but I was useless. I apologized to the team, mostly good friends, and quit. My reasoning I was adding to the total spawn they faced and adding nothing to help defeat them plus I have too much pride, despite them saying it was okay, to simply tag along and collect XP/INF while doing nothing to contribute.

Only other TF I ever left was due to a power failure LOL Unless the entire team simply decides we can't do this let's call it [which happened yesterday on a STF where we just could not beat down Lord R] I will stick it out to the bitter end. For anyone new here that isn't aware that is called being a TEAM MATE.

I like the idea but why not go with something a bit more traditional .. A week long event open to teams {these could be SG/VG or simply a group of friends that decide to band together}

Some of the events could include:

Boxing: open to any AT with a powerset that has no weapons like SS, MA or DM. Set it in an arena style atmosphere and auto Exemp/SK everyone to a certain level.. somewhere above 20 so those that desire it have their Stamina. Make it 3 or 5 rounds and the winner from each heat would obviously be the one with the most knockouts.

Fencing .. Similar to boxing but for sword wielders.. ie Katana, DB, BS and even war mace

Skiing.. since the game mechanics are already in place, proven by the Chalet in Pocket D, have a downhill race with the winner having the fastest times.

Ranged Accuracy.. To keep this semi fair since Archery definately seems to have a decided edge break it down into three categories:

Archery

Rifle/Pistol

and others.. Energy, Fire etc

Set a time limit say 2 to 3 minutes and the winner is the one with the most hits on a target like the training dummies in the Vanguard HQ. Again auto SK or exemplar players to one level so a 50 level doesn't have a distinct advantage over say a 25 level. Shut off Inspirations and suppress IO so everyone is pretty much on an even playingfield.

Obstacle course .. Sort of self explanitary just set up a course where players have to get over, under or around a bunch of obstacles and the fastest times win. This could even be broken into individual and team relay events,

Run it during the Summer months since we have the Halloween event in the Fall, Winter event in the .. DUH, and the Valentine event sort of signals the coming of Spring.

Winners would get individual Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals and at the end of the week the team with the highest medal total would each earn a special Badge as that year's Olympic Champion.

I'm sure others could come up with any number of other events that could be added so that every AT would have the opportunity to participate and excel. Of course some players with faster computers would have an edge but with many events it would still come down to how fast can you crunch buttons.

Ohhh almost forgot to add set this in a coop zone like the Chalet so that both heroes and Villains have the ability to compete and each year one side would earn bragging rights rights by taking the overall champion medals

Unfortunately NO The only way to do what you are looking for is to get some help from someone.. have them join your new SG just long enough to invite your new character. Same goes for promotion.. If you want a character to be anything higher than a level one (recruit) you need another player to do that WHILE the character in question is on line.

At present as far as I know there is no plan to change this and it can be annoying. I have a new member in my SG that has been doing a bang up job earning prestige etc and wanted to promote him. I am East Coast of the USA and he's in Italu.. met him on a day when I had no plans and was onine during the day. It took more than a week to finally be on line together so I could promote him.

The request for changes to that have been made numerous times but as far as I know there has been no progress.

My favorite happened about a week ago. A friend was working on a story arc and I agreed to help test it. While in the AE building in Atlas Park a 41 level asked in broadcast.. "So where is Steel Canyon and how do I get there so I can get a new costume?"

Ahhh 40 levels of fun and never once ventured beyond the walls of the AE building.

* Placing an arm around the new players shoulder She led him to the door and out onto the balcony overlooking Atlas Park*

"See that small raised building with the tracks running in and out of it my boy. Go there and click on the doors you find inside, just like you click on the holograph emitter inside this building, and a strange the mystical device we call a tram will arrive and take you to any place listed on the menu that appears. Look carefully and you will see small print that says STEEL CANYON if you click that it will magically transport you there." The young player shook his head in disbelief insisting that the game was here and only here. There couldn't possibly be more to see or do outside of the building he'd known as home for the past 2 hours.

"This Steel Canyon must be a section of the map here and I will find it."

He left on his quest and weeks later was found living in a cardboard box near the Hollows gate. He was muttering to himself and hadn't bathed or shaved in days.

Hehehe

In braodcast or on any of the globals I belong to if someone asks a question I will answer.. and since I normally have the Wiki running in the back ground if I don't know the answer off the top of my head I tell them to hang on while I look it up. I think it all goes back to my experiences when I started out. Plenty of folks helped me along so I am more than happy to do the same.

NO I will not give you influence or BUY you stuff. My feeling is I EARNED my influence if you want some.. run some missions and earn your own. And I don't really agree that its worse now than it used to be. I can recall the days when players used to broadcast in Atlas begging for INF. That seems to have died down.. proably due to the barrage of posts telling them to GO EARN SOME LOL

I have opened my bases to new SGs .. letting them use my teleport chambers and Invention workstation until they can afford their own. Hey I remember what it took to build my bases and we had coalition help early on so that just seemed like the thing to do as well. I don't really play any other MMOs but from talking with friends that do I think we have one of the friendliest and supportive communities out there

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My only issue with your list is farmer = powerleveler.

Farming for XP .....

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Not necessarily I know 50 levels that run Farms. There is NO XP at that level .. they are doing it for Influence to fund IOs, support lower level alts, or even to just earn Prestige for the SG they help run. I know farmers that insist everyone on the team actually helps defeat the villains inside the farm mission.. you want to sit at the door and collect XP find another farm.

Personally I am a Pugger/teamer/soloist and casual badger. I love pick up groups and and have formed many friendships that way. I have good friends that, when they are on line, I will team with before anyone else. I HATE standing around constantly broadcasting LFT so if no teams jump out at me I will solo and sometimes I just like to solo because nothing seems more heroic than one against many... Kind of like Batman or Superman although both do belong to the Justice League they frequemtly solo.

I like bright shiny things but I am NOT fanatical about it .. I am not about to spend millions creating enhancements I can't even use just to get all the Crafting badges (and you know there are serious badgers out there that have done that). I also fall into the builder category since I run two SGs outright and help run a third and am the Base builder for all 3. Oh and I do dabble as a writer with 3 arcs out there for people to play and a number of others waiting in the wings when I decide a story has had enough time in the spotlight.

Can I add one? The helpers ... I am a Taxibot and there are a number of other groups out there just like us that spend time in the Hollows, Kings Row, or where ever lending a hand to new players with heals, buffs, teleport, etc. Hey I have even seen 50 levels lingering outside the Tailors in IP protecting players that arrive there since it seems like the Family is always hanging on the corner within aggro range. Add the players that have created Global channels helping players find everything from a team to a Task Force and anything in between to that category.

Opps almost forgot the players that run Paragon Wiki Arguably the best source of info in the game so players can look up just about anything in game. This list could get pretty long .. the guys that created Vidiotmaps, the one that designed the Midi Hero Builder, people like Red Tomax that were providing game details before the Wiki was even born. And people here on the forums that offer guides and advice to anyone that asks. Did I miss anyone? Probably but you get the idea.. no one is making them do these things and no one is paying them a dime for their time .. they do it because they love the game and want everyone to have the best possible experience they can playing it.

What? I luv bubblers. I also love Icers, Thermals okay I love anything that increases my defenses and/or attack rate especially when I ma playing my Blasters. They are all SB Junkies by the way and LOVE kins.

That said I agree with Player .. A Kin requires a lot of button clicking since most of your defensive powers have to be applied individually. That's a lot of button clicking when your still trying to learn who those crazy guys with thestrange outfits are and why they all seem to want to kill you.

A good starter Defender may be an Empath. Has a few button clicks but your first heal is an aura and several of you buffs that come later on are as well. As long as the team stays in range it allows you a lot more time to look around and learn the ropes.

Rad/Rad isn't bad either .. More debuffs that you throw at one target and then until he drops anyone close to him is affected by the green glow your target is now giving off. It also has one healing aura, a rez, and an Accelerated Metabolism aura that allows everyone to recover end and powers faster.

After you get the hang of those and can find Steel Canyon without a map you will be ready to try something like Kin that requires more button crunching.

Welcome to COH ... Be safe and have fun Oh and remember Debt is inevitable and also a badge. Also remember Defender Rule # 1: If you want to wander off in a completely different direction from the rest of the team carry a lot of Green Inspirations cause I have an entire team to babysit and can't come running every time your health bar drops. LOL TRUST me as you play the game you'll see exactly what I am talking about.

mmmm After months of avoiding the temptation Sara arrives at the Rookery and smiles at the inviting pool. Quickly going to the changing room she slips off her normal clothes and into her favorite string bikini. Poolside she finds a lounge chair that will allow her to work on her tan. A Fetish Boi approaches and she smiles.

"No need dear boy I always bring my own." A wave of her hand and her Phantasm appears properly attired in a skimpy speedo.

"Miss is thirsty Antonio. You know what she likes." With a nod of his head Tony moves to the bar and creates the perfect Margarita. Returing he hand her the drink and proceeds to rub sun screen on his mistress.

"Good boy you always take such good care of me." She smiles, sips her drink, and waves at the others gathered around the pool.

"Mmmm I think I am going to like it here." She giggles a bit. "Tony do be a dear and see what they have to eat. Then fetch my IPod from the car so I can listen to some good music while I tan."

Well It's Monday, the "Holiday", and for some unknown reason they decided to go ahead with scheduled Server Maintenance knowing full well a LOT more people are off all day and MAY have wanted to be heroic. Ahh well another hour and a half and I can get back to pounding Preatorans.. for now Antonio will just have to keep me in Margaritas and burgers. LOL

My favorite has to be my Arch/Ice/Cold 50 level. The accuracy amazed me at low levels and she was still able to solo at 50 level.

My latest is a Arch/MM and I have to say I enjoy her as well. MM is very powerful and I honestly think it's the first time I found myself using my secondary power jusr as much as my primary.

Others include:

AR/DEV/Mun 50 level

Fire/Fire 25 level

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I have been playing for a year now and worked really hard and still do not have a 50

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I just finished soloing a toon to 50 in about 5 months by playing, on average, 5-7 hours a week. All i did was run story arcs. The XP rewards, specially with XP smoothing, are MORE than enough.

If 'Farming' was against the rules, then enemies shouldnt spawn in groups of more that 2. Ever. Since i kill Romans on the wall in Cimerora over and over and over again, does that mean i should have my account suspended for being a farmer?

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Okay first I took over 2 years to get my first 50 level (Altitis the only reason) but when I got my 24 month badge I decided it was time to stop messing around and get a 50. Six weeks later I had one .. that started as a 1 level. I teamed when i could find one, soloed when I couldn't, did TF and trials, and YES a little farming along the way.

Now lets discuss FARMING (not in great detail) As I mentioned I have joined farms and there are GOOD ones.. Team leaders that insist EVEYONE will help out and run a good organized team. All you are doing at that point is putting together 7-8 people running a mission on INV (level 5) and reaping the benefits of the XP that creates. Frankly I never do it for more than a few bars to get to the next level because doing the same thing over and over.. is BORING! But that isn't much different than any 8 man team setting the difficulty to 5 and running into an AV mission, knocking off the AV, and clicking whatever glowie(s) the mission requires and then heading off to do it all over on the next mission. What I never liked was the farm with that 1 or 2 PLer on board. My worst experience was on a Freakshow farm in PI. Six of us headed off to battle huge mobs of Freaks while Mr. PL and his bridge sat at the entrance collecting XP for doing NOTHING. To make it worse Mr. PL is running off at the mouth the whole time.. "Kill faster I can only stay for another half hour and want a few more levels before I go" Half way through I sent him a tell basically saying since all he had to do was sit on his BUTT while I was working mine off earning him XP. INF and levels he could SHUT UP or I was leaving. Mission ended and I quit the team.

I have run badge farms.. Ghosts are THE hardest thing to get in Croatoa since there are only 2 door missions involving them. On nunerous occassions when I get one of those I have gone to the badge channel and offered anyone that wanted to join me and we'd farm the mission for the badge. Take out all but one mob, go back outside, reset and repeat. Beats the heck out of chasing them all over the place with a scrapper. I have done the same with Paragon Protectors and helped out several friends running a Illusionist farm. The Devs KNOW these types of farms have existed almost as long as the game and have no issue with them

The problem with the recent MA Farms was they were offering up extremely inflated XP and people were BRAGGING about making 50 level in an hour or two. Now while there are PRO "Farmers" out there that keep saying SO WHAT? Lets look at what this does.. From NC Softs standpoint if people start making multiple 50s in a few days how long will it be before they become BORED with very little to do and decide to go elsewhere and play another game... Say what you want but while its a game to us it's their BUSINESS and losing clients means losing income.

From a player standpoint a new player that got sucked into that whole MEOW mess and came out a 30, 40, or 50 level in a matter of hours is a menace. When they have to ask how to get to Steel Canyon cause they want a new outfit, have no clue that a Safeguard mission actually conains a signature villain that you need to defeat (that's a personal experience from a few days ago BTW), and in general do things once they finally leave the AE building and join a regular team that get team mates killed .. they ruin the game for others. Ruin the game, players quit and move on... go back to part 1 where NC Soft doesn't like losing MONEY.

Legitimate farming will never be an issue but exploiting things to gain outragious amounts of XP, INF, or Prestige will and has in the past .. or have we forgotten at one point a player could join any team without an SK and sit at the door while the STONE Tank pounded everything into little bits and collect XP, etc. Super Groups used to do this all the time to boost their prestige and created a ton of Idiotic players that didn't have a clue what was going on. NOW if you are more than 5 levels lower than the highest member on the team NO XP, NO INF, NO anything. Of course the PLer found the way around that and Anchors and Bridges were born.. But saying that NC Soft or Cryptic, before they sold out and left, have never even tried to curb Exploits just isn't true.

I have no issue with legit farmers Not something I do a lot of but they are NOT hurting the game. 50 levels with NO Vet badges, and a grand total of 18 or 20.. most of which are from AE missions.. DO. I like the AE it adds a lot of entertaining and funny content and the ticket system is great.. I have completely enhanced characters without spending a cent of influence. I'll mix a certain amount of contact missions with some radios, a TF or two, and then if I am a bar or two from leveling I will go find a few good AE missions that sound like fun and level up. THAT was what it was intended to do. People have been screaming for new content for years Now they have a ton of it. But instead of running well written missions by players that enjoy the game and love adding their ideas to it.. all anyone wanted to do was see how fast they could get to 50. WHY? After that all you have left is radios, a few TFs, and maybe a few Mothership raids or Hamis. The FUN is getting there after 50 I semi retire a character and create a new one to try out different powersets, AT, ect. If all you want to do is stand around in Atlas Park with your 50 showing and brag to the new 2 levels coming out of Outbreak you don't need an MMO .. join the IRC and go BS there.. please you'll cut the lag tremendously.

Hmmm interesting question so okay off the top of my head and base on characters I play try this..

Plant/Rad Controller .. Great holds and Rad debuffs everything you face along with giving you some heals and a Rez

Arch/Ice Blaster .. Outstanding accuracy on the primary and the secondary adds more holds to what you Troller is providing

then add either a DM/Regen Scrapper or a WP/DM Tank for Mellee I recently decided to try Dark Mellee and love the powerset. Regen for your scrapper means he can heal himself and with Quick recovery you'll rarely run out of end. If you go tanker DM is still good and WP is a great defensive set which also gives you QR and less end problems to deal with

or

Rad/Rad Defender .. Still get the debuffs and now you are adding even more with the attack set since every attack debuffs any villain you face

Arch/MM Blaster .. Archery IMO is the best powerset out there Others may have better damage but none has that accuracy. MM adds attacks and holds to the mix. My Arch/MM uses her secondary powers as much as her primary Good mix.

Now try a DB/WP Scrapper or a WP/DB Tank. Dual Blades looks awesome and while it needs a bit of enhancing to be really accurate it offers a lot of quick attack. Already mentioned the benefits of WP

Want to try something a little different? Try this

Plant/Rad Controller .. already mentioned it above

Ill/Emp Controller .. Superior Invisibility and Confuse allow this AT to turn half the mobs you face into mindless puppets beating on their own kind instead of you. Emp provides good heals and in the later game some seriously good buffs

Now throw in a Fire/Kin Controller .. probably the best damage output of any Controller set and SB coupled with the Regen and Recovery buffs you will get from the Emp mean you will NEVER run out of end and attacks will recover faster for more damage.

Yeah I know that combo has NO mellee or ranged AT but some of the best teams I have played on were all Controllers and Defenders .. really hard for anything to hurt you when it cant hit you, can't move, is taking damage at an accelerated rate and you are healing faster than they can dish out damage.

There are a LOT of good combos that can duo or trio well and the best part is the sugestions I have given you also allow each of you to solo effectively as well when the other 2 may not be around. Experiment and have fun. Welcome to the game BTW

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Here's a question for you all to chew on- should newbies to CoH/CoV ever Powerlevel?

In my opinion, no.

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Of course the only opinion that counts on the question "should Player X powerlevel" is that of Player X.

This game is not rocket science. It can be learned on the fly. I know people who do not, as far as I know, PL, but who don't know basic tactics much less subtleties of play. I don' t PL and still find things I didn't know. How I got to the present level of the character who discovers the new thing does'nt really seem to be a factor.

But the main thing, again, is that no one else's opinion matters a darn on this question.

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Yes the game CAN be learned on the fly but who is paying for that while that brand new player to COX is learning HOW? There was a huge war on these forums when AE hit and players were making 50 in a few hours. I have experienced the result of some of that personally...

Found myself on a team with 4 other players (only one had a VET badge and that was the 3 month one). We did a safeguard mission and after taking out the minions at the entrance I headed to the vault and attacked the Boss. I held my own for a while but this was a mission in Talos and the main villain had a Tsoo Sorceror healing him. Eventually I ended on the floor and wondered what the heck happened to my support. My mini map showed 1 other team mate still in the bank and that one was at the front door. I hit the field hospital amd joined my "TEAM MATES?" at the Arachnos flyer where we did manage to prevent the bank robbers from escaping?

Prior to AE and all the PLing how many players didn't know that there is a Main villain IN the bank you need to defeat? I faceplanted because my "team" had no clue. Partly my own fault for not making sure they were following me but for crying out loud its a bank mission ... everyone should know you have to take out the signature villain at the vault I ASSUMED everyone was behind me.

Once outside I checked badges.. not only were there no vet badges but the few most of the team had were from MA Arcs. In short while they didn't get a chance to make 50 before the nerf they did manage to get THAT high without ever learning a thing about the game.

NO New players should never PL. They need to learn the basics.. Like where the train is, what city zones they can get to from which train line, and FOR GOODNESS SAKES.. how to actually play the game.

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Enemyead.Loot:Received.Recipient:Victor

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Ohhh that one is good Only thing I'd change is say Spoils instead of Loot. LOL Not sure Rikti even know what loot is.. then again not sure they know what spoils are either but it seesm to sound better.. more formal

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This makes me want to reroll a DM/Shield.

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I suggest you do. My latest Scrapper is Angel of Justice a DM/SD Scrapper that is currently about 1 bar from level 43. At 41 I took Body Mastery and picked up Focused Accuracy.. I have created a killing machine. My 46 level Tank tried to Solo Anti-Matter at level 44 and ended in the Hospital twice. Angel took down Anti-M so fast it actually shocked me. WAIT.. He's dead? How'd I do that? Cause I want to do it again and again. LOL

She's my first DM character and I WISH I'd known how good it can be earlier. I'd have 3 or 4 of them by no with different secondaries.

OUTSTANDING! I have soled a few AVs and quite a few of the Peatorians as EBs but I have done the STF with a full team and had problems taking down Lord R. Gratz on that one .. I somehow doubt I;ll be trying to copy it LOL

Hmmm Rikti tend to have a very clipped speach pattern and frequently reverse order from the way we would speak. How about something like .. Spoils awared: Victor attained same Probably a better way to say it but did that stir anything in your head? LOL

Okay my question is do you want to be a defender regardless of powersets? or do you want to be an empath? I have seen numerous good suggestions for possible Defender powerset combos that will allow you to solo but you'll be giving up Empathy? ( I play a number of Empaths but no big deal if you are looking to stay a defender) Most Defender sets can solo its just that its a slower more deliberrate strategy that works with them.. and yes like some blaster sets and stalkers of old RUN LIKE HECK is part of that strategy at times LOL

Now if you want to stay an Empath but aren't necessarily worried about staying defender try a Controller. I have several that sol0 quite well and add to any team they join.

ILL/EMP ... Superior Inv, along with selecting Recall Friend, makes you a definate favorite for TFs. That and Confuse make you very effective soloing since you can sneak in undetected [there are only a few things that see through Sup Inv .. Rikti Drones, Knives of Artemis, and those blasted eyeball things in the Shadow Shard to name most]. So sneak in confuse the mob and let them beat each other senseless hile you help. I have run entire missions without ever taking a bit of damage. Oh and Malta HATE me since I turn their Sappers and Gunslingers into killing machines... MY killing machines.

Plant/Emp I don't have one myself but do have a Plant/Rad that solos very well. Teaming or solo its hard for anything to damage you when they are being slowly strangled by you vines. Seeds of Confusion may be even better than the standard confuse you get with Illusion.. its a cone so as long as you position yourself right with one application you can turn an entire mob into mindless puppets beating on each other.

Whatever you decide have fun.. I rerolled one of my first Defenders a long time ago. I started with a Dark/Eng but got discouraged when Dark Masima missed so I rerolled her around 20 level and went with Emp/Eng since the Aura always hits its mark. Oh later I recreated her, she's an andriod BTW, and came out with Sara2.0 an Ill/Emp Controller and fell in love with the powerset combo.

I can't say the "NERF" bothers me much. Even before it happened I was doing a combination of AE and traditional missions. I belong to the MAarc Global channel and it always seems busy with people advertising their new arcs and offering friendly advice on how to fix missions.

The new content is great, Tickets are amazing.. I have actually completely enhanced certain characters using nothing but tickets to buy SOs and pocketing the influence I'd have used to do so prior to I 14. On several occaisons since the NERF I have used the AE to get the last bar or two I needed to attain a certain level and it seems like I leveled fairly quickly... Not sure what the problem is or what server you are on but on Virtue AE is still going strong.

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I honestly think that its to Give Us Something To Look Forward To. Part of the appeal of any MMORGP, which always have a strong element of repetition, is the earning of rewards that the player can look forward to. When I hit 20 I can get a cape! When I hit 25 I can use the O-port! When I hit 51, I get my epic winged mount! Or whatever. If every Good Thing were available to every character at level 1, many would find the excitement of leveling to be diminished. Less feelings of excitement in the game for whatever reasons = more cancellations.

So you don't get your O-port until 25 because it would eventually bankrupt Paragon City.

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I tend to lean toward this as an explanation. It gives you something else to attain as you get higher. I realize that on Villain side, PVP zones aside, there are NO zones any level villain can't visit.. Not sure I'd be to comfortable wandering Grandville with a 2 level but it can be done. Hero side we have the Hazard and Trial zones that no one can access until they reach a certain level. [Striga is 20, Crey Folley 30, etc].

Using the same logic .. why can't a 5 level get into the RWZ or Cimmerora? Because the villain groups there start at 35 and you earn the right to battle there by attaining level 35 (and completing the Midnighter Club Arc for Cimmerora). It's just another goal to attain. Also think about it.. COH side there is 1 badge mission between levels 5-9, one more between 10-15, and one more between 16-20. It's not until level 20-25 that a hero even has the opportunity to earn 2 badges doing door mission and at the lower levels very few contacts even have a story arc. If a 10 level had access to Ouroboros and time travel missions exactly HOW much could he or she possibly do?

Now as a travel aid it's great. Between that and the Midnighter club, the RWZ, my base portals. My vet reward that allows me to tp to base from anywhere and the mission teleporter I got with the Magic Pack I can get just about anywhere FAST. So you have to earn the right to use it by reaching level 25 ... They had to, or decided to, come up with limit and that's what they chose. Hey you can second guess the Devs forever.. Why do I have to wait until level 14 for a permanent travel power? Why do I have to all but waste two power selections when all I really want from the fitness pool is Stamina? Why after level 32 do I suddenly stop gaining a new power every other level? To quote one of the other posters here.. Cause WE said so (THE DEVS) lol