Bastille Boy

I took teleport on my toons on live. My thinking was that it's the fastest travel power, at least in theory. I haven't taken teleport on any of my many, many alts on Homecoming. Every toon I roll has four power pools accounted for by non-travel powers: Fighting, Speed (for Haste), either Leadership or Concealment, and one power pool with a defense or resistance power (Leaping for Combat Jumping, Flight for Hover, Sorcery for Rune of Protection). Teleportation is the only travel power that doesn't come in a pool with a defense-boosting or resistance-boosting power. So I don't have room in a build for it. If I could have superpowers in real life, the two powers I'd most want are long-range teleportation and invisibility. Either power is great by itself. Together, they're extremely useful (and extremely dangerous). I'm too much of a min-maxer to take that combination in the game.

My main is an Invulnerability tanker. I also have a level 50 Willpower tanker, which I built for damage rather than durability. Both sets are good sets. Both sets have a "layered" approach, rather than going all in on either defense or resistance. Neither set has a damage aura, so neither is the best choice if high DPS is a priority. (It's not the priority for most tankers.) The big weakness of Invulnerability is the "psi hole." It's possible to plug that "psi hole" with a carefully designed IO build. My Invulnerability tanker is nearly unkillable. The big weakness of Willpower is defense debuffs. There is a big difference between Willpower's 20% defense debuff resistance and Invulnerability's 50% defense debuff resistance. When fighting a big group of enemies with defense debuffs (e.g. the PPD), my Willpower tanker can face a "cascading defense failure" that makes him faceplant quite suddenly. Defense debuffs can be a problem for my Invulnerability tanker, too, but the cascade doesn't happen as quickly, so I have time to react (e.g. by eating a purple inspiration). From a roleplaying / biography writing perspective, Willpower is one of few tanker primaries that lends itself to a natural origin story.

You could write a short biography in the in-game form and link to a longer biography here: https://fbsa.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Main_Page Several players (including me) have created threads in the Roleplaying forum with character lists. You could, if you wanted, include more detailed bios with your character lists. (If it's a long list, you might want to use the spoiler feature.) https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/18342-list-of-character-lists/ Speaking only for myself now....when I'm in game, I love reading people's character bios, but I usually read them right before a mission starts, when there's not much time. If I have to touch the scroll bar to finish reading a character bio, I'm unlikely to finish it. So when I write my own in-game character bios, I limit myself to the visible space in a standard-sized info box, and I break the story into two or three short paragraphs.

Welcome to the game! That is a good backstory for a character! I'd definitely recommend going with a corruptor (or a defender) rather than a dominator for your first character. Dominators can be amazing, but they tend to be late-blooming, and they're tricky to play well. Defenders and corruptors are more straightforward. I shouldn't try to give powerset advice, since I don't have enough experience with the sets you're considering. They're all widely regarded as strong.

That's a shiny build. Thanks, Darkir! I think it's worth mentioning that it also softcaps energy defense.

The only brand-new toon I have definite plans to make soon is a Beasts mastermind. I'm undecided about the secondary. I have several toons in the 30s and 40s that I'd like to come back to. The water/cold corruptor is likely to be next. I have an elaborate backstory for my toons, involving the world's only minimum-security prison for superpowered inmates (located in the Rogue Isles, of course). But I only have two level 50 corruptional officers, they're both unreliable (both as narrators and as teammates), and only one of them is an actual corruptor. That won't do.

I just got my Pain/Sonic defender to level 50, and I'm making choices about the final build. The original plan was to go with a Pain variant of Linea's Emp/Sonic build Strauss. This build has softcap defense to smashing/lethal, fire/cold, and energy. Resistances are decent all the time, and they are at or near hardcap when Rune is up. The build is nowhere near perma-haste. (Pain doesn't have Fortitute, so there's even less recharge than in the original.) World of Pain is always up nevertheless. I am wondering if it's worth it to invest in fire/cold defense. If I give up on fire/cold, I can get in more recharge and a -res proc on Dreadful Wail. If I give up 2.5% of S/L defense (still over soft-cap), I can get in still more recharge. I will be playing mostly but not only on teams. I will be debuffing and attacking aggressively. Since both powersets have important PBAoE powers, I will often fight from melee range, though I'll sometimes jump back from the enemies to howl at them. Any advice? p.s. I know that I could build for ranged and melee defense if I weren't taking the Sorcery pool, but I've decided I want Rune and Mystic Flight for this toon.

Of my three level 50 tankers, my main, an Invulnerability / Street Justice tanker, is my favorite. This is the only toon I have that can handle AE 801.2 solo at +2/8. (I can't do +4/8 with anything yet.) My Super Strength / Willpower proc monster can solo an AV but isn't nearly as good at tanking. The lack of defense debuff resistance in Willpower is a problem. Functionally, this is a tough, low-damage scrapper. My Dark / Dark tanker is quite tough. It's a ways away from full incarnates, so I can't make a fair comparison yet, but I think I prefer the layered defenses of Invulnerability to going all in on resistance. (The build does have softcap defense to melee and S/L, but only 30% to everything else and no DDR.) I don't have the endurance issues that some people report with Dark Armor.

Total alts: 57 Alts at level 50: 10 (17.5%) Alts at level 50 with a solid build, T4 alpha, and full accolades: 3 (5.2%) None of my alts have full T4 incarnate powers. My main (Bastille Boy) is close; his incarnate powers are T4 except for a T3 judgment. In general, I'm not a big fan of Lore, so full T4 incarnates isn't a good measure of completeness for me. The thread reminds me that one of my favorite alts (Herocatcher Jake) only has 2/4 accolades and is missing the easiest one (Atlas Medallion). I should probably "finish" this character, as he's central to the backstory of most of my other alts.

I mostly play defenders, corruptors, and tankers. I don't feel useless on endgame teams playing a defender. The key is to focus on buffs (especially +dmg and +res), debuffs (especially -res and -regen), and attacks with secondary effects (especially -res). Healing is still useful sometimes, but it shouldn't be the focus (except in PVP).

If there's a move away from requiring Discord in part of the PVP community, that's cool. I still think it's important to inform new players about what's currently common or expected. Maybe instead of saying "Discord is required for team PVP," an intro post could say "Many teams in the PVP community use Discord to coordinate tactics," or something like that.

It would be helpful to have a sticky in the PVP forum with basic facts on PVP for people who are thinking about trying it but aren't sure if it's for them. The "pvp resources" sticky is very useful, but it's not beginner-friendly. Things to include: The fact that you need to use Discord for team PVP. Advertise this clearly! It should be the first thing a beginner sees when they start browsing the PVP forum. This way folks who can't or don't want to use Discord can quickly see that PVP is not for them. The fact that Discord is usually the best place for new PVP-ers to ask for advice. A brief description of the types of PVP play available. Link to more detailed descriptions (e.g. the excellent "Kickballs and You" Google doc) when available. Some advice on archetype and powerset selection for newcomers to PVP. Talk both about what's viable and what's likely to be a good experience for a beginner. Talk about both Arena and zones. There's an image with a tier list for Recluse's Victory that's likely to be the first thing PVP beginners find if they search on Reddit. It could mislead new PVPers who do not know that zones and Arena are different animals. Whatever norms the Arena and zone communities want people to know before they venture in, or a link to a document with the relevant norms. It's easy to find this out for Arena, at least for kickball. I still don't know what if any norms there are for zone. I tried PVP in spring. I leveled three toons with PVP in mind: a Mind/Psy stalker, an Emp/Beam defender, and an Ice/Thermal corruptor. I got the emp a full PVP build, with the kind help of Void. (This is not the build I posted for critique. Don't use that build!) I played the stalker with a build intended for both PVP and PVE -- not a total disaster, but far from optimal. I never got around to building out the thermal for PVP. I went to two Smol Kickballs and had a good time at both, despite my lack of skills (other than writing--I won the biography contests!). It was a friendly group. The experience was different from what I expected. I haven't played pickup basketball in years, I won't say how many years, and I was never any good at it. With that qualification...kickball felt like pickup basketball. Fast-paced, though not as fast-paced as basketball can be. Friendly, despite being a competitive game. And with tactics that I do not (yet) understand. I also tried zone. Mostly solo; I only teamed a few times. I found the atmosphere toxic. If I go back to PVP, it'll be Arena, not zone. Though enjoyed the kickballs I went to, there are obstacles to doing it regularly, for me: my gaming hours are irregular, and often I'm online when I can't be on voice. I'm not sure I could get online for PVP often enough to develop the skills needed to emp well. Maybe someday I'll build a blaster for PVP, but I'm not all that excited about playing a blaster. I have a bad case of altitis, and I have yet to get a blaster to 50. Defenders, corruptors, and melee ATs are my thing.

The best tankers and defenders aren't pure support characters. They combine their support roles with attacks. Tankers draw aggro most effectively through their attacks (as others have mentioned). I always take Taunt on my tankers, but I reserve it for specific situations, e.g. when I want to pull only part of a dangerous enemy group toward the team. For ordinary groups, the best way to draw aggro is to dive in and start using AOEs. Tanker AOEs are good attacks! It's hard to generalize about defenders; different powerset combinations play very differently. But all well-played defenders use attacks. Some defenders are heavy damage dealers themselves. Some defenders use the secondary effects of their attacks (e.g. the resistance debuff in Sonic attacks) to make other players' attacks more effective. Getting inf on a first character is tricky for any archetype! Some things that may help: Selling rare salvage in the marketplace can be a good way to get an initial nest egg (450k - 500k depending on how patient you are). Running arcs or TFs for merits, buying enhancement converters, and selling those converters on the market is another way. Getting level 15 or level 20 common IOs is a good idea. Once you get into the mid-20s, it's worth starting to get some attuned yellow set IOs that will scale all the way up to 50 (e.g. Thunderstrike on single target ranged attacks). You'll save money in the long run (compared with leveling on SOs or regularly replacing common IOs), and you'll benefit from the set bonuses. Yellow IO sets for attacks are usually cheaper than yellow IO sets for defensive powers.

The only time I use Discord is for team PVP. For PVE missions, hard no. Assuming that other people are on Discord for PVE content is a bad mistake. If you want only Discord users in your group, make that clear when you advertise. On Everlasting, Hamidon raids use the Request channel to give instructions to the league. That works well and doesn't make any assumptions about what tech people are using.

I completely agree that leveling the old-fashioned way is the best way to experience the game for the first time. It can be fun for old hands, too. But there are many legitimate reasons for experienced players to power-level toons. Back in spring, I got into PVP (briefly). That required fully decked-out level 50 toons. Right now, my goal is to beat AE 801.2 solo at max difficulty. That requires fully decked-out level 50 toons. That is what happens to new players who PL. For players who already have one 50 and who are starting a new character, playing the level 50 character (whether by farming or running missions) and sending inf to the new character is more efficient than having the new character pay their own way. Of course if someone prefers to have each character pay their own way, that's legit! Edit: Once a player has several 50s of different archetypes, it's not necessary to level the old-fashioned way to figure out how to play the toon well. There is a reason you don't see pure healers often, outside of PVP. Buffing, debuffing, and attacking are all more effective ways of contributing to a PVE team than healing. Empathy is a great set. An emp can make a real contribution to a team, and a well-built, skillfully played emp can do impressive things solo. And there is so much roleplaying potential! The origin story for superhuman empathy can be almost any story. But a well played emp does not focus on healing (unless there is a roleplaying reason for doing that). Buffing and attacking are at least equal priorities, maybe higher priorities. One plus to playing Empathy and other buff sets: it's possible to contribute effectively to a high-level team even at low levels. I do powerlevel people sometimes, both via AE farms and via level 50 radio / paper teams (usually +3/8). I think it's my responsibility to be clear about what I'm offering, but it's other players' responsibility to decide whether my team is a good fit for them. I don't make any assumptions about what other players want.

Here is the build I ultimately went with (with incarnates included). I don't yet have my T4 Judgment. Going for Mighty Core. I have two T4 Hybrid powers, Melee Core and Assault Radial. I can run Linea's 801.2 mission solo at +2/8. I've attempted the mission at +3/8 three times, twice with Hybrid Assault and once with Hybrid Melee. When I tried it with Hybrid Melee, I ran out of time while fighting the last two groups. (The last EB was in there somewhere, but I wasn't able to find and to target it.) It's possible that getting my T4 Judgment and a bit more practice will make the difference. I doubt that I'd be able to solo 801.2 at +4/8. There isn't enough DPS. In regular content, this build seems to be plenty sturdy. The extra resistance in Hybrid Melee isn't really necessary for most missions. The debuff resistance in Destiny Ageless Radial is critical for a lot of missions. It's also important to have the recharge from Alpha Agility. This is a low recharge build, and being able to spam Spinning Strike is important both offensively and defensively. Thanks to everyone who offered advice! I have a better understanding of how to design high-end builds now.

In the forums, a gamer named Mansion Asked for biography rules quite byzantian. But you don't need forms. You don't even need norms. You just need a nice bit of scansion.

OOC: The original redside tutorial (which is still the redside tutorial on Homecoming) had two possible initial contacts. The other contact sends the player's character in search of the weapons or devices they need for their powers. In writing the story above, I assumed that either taking away prisoners' devices or giving them drugs will in fact suppress their superpowers, without exception. That's what led me to think the drugs the Zig uses must be nasty. To undermine naturally gained super strength, drugs would have to be designed to cause weakness. To stop spellcasting or to undermine natural willpower, drugs would have to cause confusion or depression. (I wasn't thinking about androids. Androids who can't be partially disabled via removal of a part would be a tricky case.) I wonder whether the two stories about the Zig are in fact consistent. Might prisoners and rank-and-file guards believe that prisoners' powers are being suppressed by drugs, though in fact Pandora's Box is responsible? Might the guards be giving prisoners a nocebo (the negative equivalent of a placebo)?

(( Thanks for the tip, @Ritikesh. The villain tutorial includes the following text, from Angel Lopez, one of two possible contacts in the mission. )) https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Angel_Lopez#Talk_to_Mr._Verde

I notice that the Virtueverse Wiki now has an article on the Port Oakes Pen. It's mostly accurate. It could give the impression that there's some kind of tension between me and Officer Pavlovich, head of the K9 corps. That's not true. We occasionally see things differently, but we're good friends. A lot of the corruptional officers call themselves corruptors but are actually defenders. As you know from these forums, it's a subtle difference. http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Port_Oakes_Penitentiary --Herocatcher Jake

I do now! In order: Bastille Boy. The lack of trouser pockets is a recent development, not unrelated to the pose he is in. Herocatcher Jake. He isn't usually this stern. He really dislikes having his photo taken. He likes this photo because you can't tell that he's really short. Jailbird Joe. The work release uniform suits him well. It is quite unflattering on some other characters. His glasses were specially made to withstand impact.

Natural origin works for so many things! He was always picked last for kickball, so now he has empathy for the underdog? Natural. She studied opera, and now her voice can shatter arachnobots as well as glass? Natural. They learned to inflict psychic harm by watching their dysfunctional parents in action? Natural. But if they learned to control other people mentally by getting a Ph.D. in psychology, that power has a Science origin. Social science is science!

One limitation of the build I just noticed: when exemplared below 45, and when Haste isn't up, the recharge on Initial Strike will be significantly longer than the animation time on rib cracker. It's necessary to move a third enhancement slot to Initial Strike to get enough recharge without totally sacrificing accuracy. I still have a few choices to make, but I'm homing in on a final build. Thanks to both @Infinitum and @Hyperstrike for all of the advice!

That is a really nice build! Thanks for putting this together. I'll think about the choice between CP and FA. I might use the Mako's Bite Acc/Dam rather than proc in Initial Strike. Only slightly less damage, but more likely to hit if enemies are +3 and FA is not on.

There's a tricky balance here. I think you're right that the last build I posted (the second build in my most recent post) has a dangerous psi hole. But I'm nervous about lowering energy defense to 32% (or 45% with fully saturated Invincibility). There are enemy groups with ranged energy attacks and defense debuffs (e.g. PPD Awakened). I'm inclined to sacrifice a bit of resistance to toxic and psi (7.5% each, if I'm counting right) in order to keep my energy/negative defense at the level I have it in my current build: 36.9% with one foe in melee range, 50% with Invincibility fully saturated. Two ways to do that, one with Laser Beam Eyes, one with Pyre Mastery. The build with Laser Beam Eyes has very slightly better endurance management. Pyre Mastery would give me access to Melt Armor. Build with Energy Mastery (Laser Beam Eyes): Build with Pyre Mastery: