Safehouse

I'd like to throw my hat in the ring and offer up the build I have drafted for my main, Astrum. I'm certainly open to feedback. I'd just like to throw out there that I'm not a minmaxer, and a lot of my builds are more concept-based than centered on min-maxing. I've been hoping to squeak out a bit more defense/resistance on the build, especially to shore up the pretty glaring psi-hole that I've found myself in. Thoughts? Here's a snapshot of my current build and associated totals. The actual file for the build is attached too: Astrum - Sentinel (Electrical Blast).mbd

Thank you for the suggestions! I’ll be saving this for reference. Fun fact: I intend to roll out a magical red side “arch nemesis” to the mage I mentioned in my OP. I’ve neglected redside and never got a villain to 50 on live.

Wow I wasn’t really sure if there would really be much response but as always, y’all are wonderful and delivered me with MUCH food for thought! I’ll definitely be taking the advice posted here and coming up with an idea to move forward. Also fun to see I’m not the only one who’s given a subject like this consideration! Thanks for the really thorough breakdown and the link to that other thread! I’ll take that into consideration. Yup! Totally true. I’ve run them as part of the Gulbasaur guide but fully plan to include them in this character’s play through. I think we have pretty similar mindsets about where different factions fall, origin-wise. Oh right! I always hunt out Sally pretty early in new toons 😛 Which TF is that? Ernesto Hess!

I know Gulbasaur posted the stellar “Good Mission Guide”, and I have used that to enjoy leveling up many a character! So I’m more than happy to shout out a recommendation to check out that guide. However, I rolled out a new character and was hoping to do something different: he’s a magician, and i would really love to level him up by focusing on magic-oriented storylines. With a bit of flexibility for things dealing with Rularuu and Rikti. Not sure if Devouring Earth counts as magic but I tend to think of them as magic oriented, haha… Anyway, anybody have any recommendations for how to achieve this? I’m starting off by going to Azuria for my first missions (sorry Matthew Habashy), but really not sure where to go from there. Any suggestions or feedback would be welcome. Thanks!

Cool thanks for the clarification!

So that I’m clear, are you completely out of the RP game altogether? Or are you saying that there’s a smaller RP community in Excelsior that you prefer to engage with? I’m assuming the former but was unable to rule out the latter when I read your comment. I’ve personally had a very limited experience with people RPing “Horny”. I think I’ve been propositioned once, and they were respectful about it, even when I said “I don’t do ERP”. Not ruling out that it happens to others; it just hasnt been a major issue for me. Perhaps that’s just down to my experience and how I’ve chosen to put myself out there, I don’t know. That said, I’ve CERTAINLY overheard aggressive horniness and propositioning lol.

I think one example where it made sense to me was a bio where somebody said she was flat chested, and then indicated that she has a chip on her shoulder about it. That’s a scenario where the bodily description in and of itself may not be directly relevant, but the character’s feelings about it may have a direct impact on how they interact with others or how defensive they are. IDK, that was a time where it didn’t bother me that much, but I’m inclined to agree that most of the time it’s superfluous and gratuitous.

I say this stressing I have no idea how this stuff works, but is it possible that they’ve reached a “gentleman’s agreement” to not have an agreement? Maybe “the talks” carry on in perpetuity without anything actually being set in stone between HC and NCSoft. That way NC holds onto their property while “allowing” people to carry on with the understanding that, should they “cross a line,” the hammer comes down? I don’t even know if that’s a possibility but I’m sometimes curious if it is.

Second this so much. I always loved Hero 1s cape soooo much.

Every time I hear this song all I can think of is that episode of Modern Family where Edward Norton guest stars as one of the members of Spandau Ballet.

Something that has made me curious is how recognition (not sure of the term) by NPCs works. What I’m taking about, for clarification’s sake, is when you get the random city dwellers who walk by and say stuff like “Hey, that’s [hero name]! I hear s/he has been really putting the beat down on trolls.” Usually it happens after a certain amount of time playing on a character, but I’ve always been curious how it works or what the threshold is before NPCs start to recognize you. I checked the wiki but didn’t find a clear page about it. Is there some sort of hidden stat?

Do you ever miss Negatron Slam or Positronic Fist? I know those are two of the harder hitters in Atomic Manip, especially with the gamma mechanic. Just curious what sort of playstyle this might be best suited for. I'm interested in Dark/Atomic, but I also like blapping, so...

I keep hoping that maybe… MAYBE… I’ll see my long awaited kinetic melee revamp (at this point I rerolled my kin/energy scrapper as energy/energy and left the original to collect dust 😞) but alas no sign yet! Maybe next page 😊 a new incarnate arc sounds cool, curious if this will mean more incarnate powers and expanding to the next level!

That would be enough for me, personally. Energy blast with praetorian clockwork or praetorian police particle effects in the energy would satisfy me greatly 🙂

Looking to flesh out a concept but I’m really torn on which would be better, so I thought I’d ask the community’s opinion! I want to take one of power pools in no small part for the snipe but I wasn’t sure if one is generally considered a better mechanical complement for the combination of street Justice and energy aura. Conceptually I wish there was an epic power pool that had energy blasts/snipes in it. The idea I have is a character who passively absorbs cosmic aether, magically enhancing his strength and defenses, and by the end the power is spilling over and can be released in blasts. In that vein, mu may be a better fit, although soul mastery could work for a more “mystical” effect. I’m sure I’m not gimping myself with this choice whatever I picked. Just curious if anybody has gotten better mileage off one power pool over the other?

What I love about that particular Shakespeare quote is the fact that it originated in Hamlet, and is spoken by Polonius - a pompous, hypocritical windbag - during a long tirade. It’s such a good declaration! So when you see it as part of a monologue that shows the character uttering those words doesn’t live by them, it become an almost humorous line 😆

It’s a good point about AT being something of a determining factor. I tend to play a lot of Blasters, so my strategy has largely been like yours. And yeah when I’m soloing bosses or elite, I basically pop all my inspirations, aim and build up, then snipe and all single target powers on the big bad lol.

I feel like this is largely my list as well. Also there’s a sky raider mob I always prioritize: raider engineers. They summon the bot minion that creates a force field and makes stuff annoying fast. I don’t always kill them first, but I do hit them to interrupt the summon.

I’m talking about when dealing with mobs on missions etc. For instance, later in the game, I always focus on Malta Sappers at priority number one. On my kheldians I know to prioritize quantums. But I also have priorities in the early game on other toons as well. I always check for “slammers” first and prioritize those, for example, because they seem to hit extra hard, and because of their knockback. Similarly, I always focus on the “buckshot” lieutenants first. It’s probably not really necessary but just a habit I got into way back on live. How about you guys? Anybody have any little habits like that that they’ve formed?

It’s really funny this subject came up. This thread actually includes a laser blast set, proposed to use a combo of beam rifle and praetorian clockwork blasts, each with either a hand blast or “optical blast” option. Just earlier today I responded to reup my support for that set And hopes that it would make it into the game!

I know I already responded to this one previously but I wanted to return to again say “YES PLEASE.” Devs, give us laser blasts you cowards!!! I have a main waiting for this set!

I love this set idea, and could imagine it being loads of fun. Thematically, it also reminds me of lots of espers in media, who use their psychic powers not just offensively, but defensively as well. One example that comes to mind is Tetsuo from Akira. Sure, he's an offensive juggernaut with his psychic abilities, but he also applies his telekinesis defensively to great effect. I could definitely envision a psy/psy sentinel being lots of fun 🙂

Already in the testing discord, but I always appreciate the reminder so I can gird my loins in preparation for the beta testing fun to begin >:)

I'm currently leveling a Rad/Energy blaster and holy crap is it amazingly fun in melee range. It's one of my favorite characters I've ever rolled. It hits hard, and Rad provides some fun AoEs. I can fly, I get to shoot lasers from my eyes, rad has some "ion cannon" like powers. I've been playing a mix of melee and range but I think it could do well as blapper. For sure I second the recommendations for an energy secondary.

This is suddenly somehow exactly where I find myself. *sighs and benches his thirty alts to roll a sentinel*