Frozen Burn

Yes, this is odd that you got it inside a mission. The badge is awarded after collecting all of a zone's explore badges and receiving the accolade for that zone. Did you by chance happen to collect all 8 of DA's explore badges right before entering the mish? Perhaps there was a bit of delay in rewarding it? However, that is still odd behavior as it is typically awarded immediately.

Yes, slotting up Integration is helpful. Slot up any power that gives you more regen. Quick Recovery is better than Stamina, so when you get up in levels, you'll want to slot QR instead and leave Stamina at the 1 slot with a Performance Shifter proc in it.

Sadly, no. This is how MMs are designed - the minions ARE your damage. You controlling them and keeping them alive (along with your teammates) is your primary role. If you want your character itself to do any significant damage, you'll have to play a different Archetype.

Love your post and agree with everything. However, FYI, the ability to kill civies in mayhems was a part of Live as I clearly remember spending a lot of time getting the Terminator badge for killing 1000 citizens back then, and then having to do grind and do again here for Homecoming.

Yes, Incandescence incarnate ability is a team/league teleport power. All team/league members will teleport to your location at once just like ATT.

It was most likely the Incandescence Incarnate ability that recharges in 2 mins. You have to be lvl 50 with Destiny Incarnate unlocked for this ability.

i have not yet.

"Good" is subjective. 🙂 I too am leveling up a Storm/Temporal blaster. Below is my build that I'm working on so far. Storm is... interesting so far. We'll see how this build pans out. 😄 I like how it's going so far. Celestial Thunder - Blaster (Storm Blast - Temporal Manipulation).mbd

Yes, Archery/TA does get better - ALL toons get better with lvls. And you are NOT fully slotted at lvl 11 - you are far from it. Archery is lethal damage and many mobs have some resistance to it, but there are also many who are highly susceptible to it. /TA has some glue arrow (toxic) and oil slick which can then be set on fire for Fire damage, so you'll get more damage types mixed in as well. If you enjoy your toon, stick with it.

Read this entire thread so far and I keep hearing double talk about the writing and content saying it's the best, but then how it sucks because we're not treated as a respectable villain. It can't be both. First off - Praetoria has the best writing and content in the game hands down. You make choices and and you navigate your way through the grey areas of life and lean good, evil, or somewhere in-between. I know we're not talking about Praetoria, but i bring it up for comparison. CoV - the writing is strong, but the content is weak. The NPCs are well developed, interesting, and written well - but the overall content for CoV has us not feeling very villainous at all (everything most everyone has already said so far in this thread). We get no say in how we're treated - like little pissants that mean nothing to anyone even in the upper levels - which may be fine early on as we learn the ropes from breaking out of the Zig... but once up in level, you're still not respected as a villain. So, the content in CoV is just horrible in that way. But I do realize that this content was years before Praetoria. I think the mistakes that are in CoV and CoH really helped shape how good Praetoria is. Unfortunately, CoV just never got updated with better content on the whole. Maybe this is something the HC devs can look into for the future. Additionally, as a Vigilante (Blue-side), I can intentionally kill NPCs. This feels more villainous than all the content red-side. When I play a Rogue or Villain in the Isles, I feel like more of a Vigilante stealing and robbing, and fighting other villainous factions. Not that I need my villains to kill, but it seems like it's not much of an option Red-side, which it should be a more prevalent choice there. Ultimately, I just hate the way my character is treated, not feared, and not respected in the Isles. Blue-side, you feel respected and treated appropriately. I also realize that as a company (NC Soft) that puts out a game with content to the public where the player gets to be "villains" / bad / evil - can be a liability thing. We certainly do not want any kids or unhinged people to buy into the roleplaying too much and take some of this stuff to real life (we know it's not the norm but that it does happen). Not only is it an ethical stance to keep the content "dumbed down" but it is also from a legal responsibility position the company has to do this when creating the game. So, I kind of get why the CoV content is "soft" and we truly do not get to do evil deeds or be that evil villain we might want. I think this is the inherent flaw with CoV that may never be fixed. Mechanic-wise / actually playing in the Rogue Isles: It's dark, gloomy, dirty, dingy - I both love and hate this. It's unique to the Isles, which I love, but after a bit, it's too much. Even villains get sunny and bright days. Even they get to walk through clean streets - some even have their thumbs on the sanitation unions and their hands in their pockets to keep their cities clean. As a real person sitting at the keyboard and staring at the screen - it's too depressing to see so much gloom 100% of the time. Weather changes is what ALL sides need - occasional rainy days Blue and Gold side, and occasional bright sunny days Red. Mercy Island: I liked it the way it was before the starting point was moved to the big fort. It used to be after breaking out of the Zig, we land in the small fort at the north end of Mercy Island - we had a few contacts to help us fight and get some experience, and essentially lead us newbie villains to the safety of Arachnos' big fort on the other side of the island - we get introduced to Arachnos, how they operate and after a few more levels - we are encouraged to go seek our fortune and path in Port Oakes. It was a nice progression through the starter zone. Now, it's all a jumbled mess. You can level up with content just in the big fort and never leave it (except to get badges). And when you do get a contact that sends you to the rest of the island, it SUCKs especially when you have to run back across the island to get back to the contact because they haven't given you their cell # yet - and then you get the next mish that sends you down the elevators and out across the isle again. Paper missions - new mechanic at the time and CoV relies too heavily on it. It seems like filler content because they wanted to release the game and there wasn't enough NPC contacts with content (I'm guessing - maybe not, but that's how it feels). It's a cool mechanic to repeatable random content and paper/radio missions are a good addition to the game. But CoV relies too heavily on it. Sometimes, doing paper mish and the robbery will out level me from the contact I was trying to get to! I really hate that. NPC capture/Lead out - Another new mechanic that was introduced with CoV, which is cool. But it was WAY over done. It's such a pain to do all these lead out/capture missions. Stat Enhancing Accolades (Born in Battle, High Pain Threshold, Invader, Marshal): These on the whole are easier to get Hero-side. Yes, Invader (TF Commander) is REALLY easy *IF* you have a lvl 50 villain friend or on an alt account to get you all the bank missions explore badges from the lvl 50 contact. (To me, this feels like a cheat - and while yes, I'm a villain and would cheat, as a player I'm not, but roleplaying a villain... and that's a whole other existential rabbit hole we can down in another thread.) However, if you don't have a lvl 50 villain friend or alt account and are alone - it's a long wait to lvl 45 for this stat that you can get Blue-side at lvl 35 (plus all the reward merits from all the TFs). Born in Battle (Portal Jockey) You have to endure 1 million points of damage to earn this and a LOT of ATs rely on Defense for survivability, so it can take ages to get this badge. To get this in a reasonable amount of time, you have to turn off your defenses (that've worked hard to earn) just so you can take damage to get this. This is easier to get Blue-side by just defeating some AVs/EBs in an arc (more reward merits) and collect a few explores and plaques. High Pain Threshold (Freedom Phalanx Reserve) You have to get a debt badge to get this accolade - yes, you have to let yourself die multiple times to pay off debt to get this. COMPLETELY counter intuitive for gameplay. Blue-side - it's just explores, plaques, and defeats (the hardest being fake nems because they only spawn at lvl 40+, but doable and can get early, if you try) - it should be similar for villains. Marshal (Atlas Medallion) Practically every toon needs this +5 to max endurance boost early on. Red-side, you can't get this until lvl 45 because you have to defeat the Freedom Phalanx in the LRSF. Blue-Side - the hardest thing to get is hunting some vamps and wolves - which can be easily gotten in the Moonfire lvl 23+ TF - so, you get this early when you need it. As a villain, to get these, it's easier to switch to Vigilante, grab them, and then switch back. But that can go against character concept for most. Why switch back? Heck, why start villainside at all, if I have to go hero to get these things easier? As someone else stated, Blue-side, you get freedom of zones to take your character through - you can skip or take the Hollows, Faultline, Skyway or Steel Canyon, Talos or IP, Croatoa, Striga - there are so many options Blue-side. Red-side - you're locked and you have to do the same content over and over again. Having played the game since 2004, all of it played over and over again, it's just that Blue-side has more paths to follow. I can make 10 Heroes and all of them have different paths/contacts. Those 10 as Villains, and practically half would repeat the same content because there just isn't the options to go elsewhere outside the existing zones. (ie - the Isles need more isles.) 🙂 Navigation I LOVE that streets are not square blocks like a lot of zones in Paragon City. The Isles have diagonals on that grid which is wonderful. But that can also be disorienting. And there are many people who hate that or find it difficult to navigate around the island - streets laid out on a grid might be boring, but it is easier to navigate. Grandville can also be very difficult to navigate, especially if you do not fly. It's a cool factor that the zone and contacts went upwards - that doesn't exist in Paragon City. Finding elevators up is difficult. They are hard to spot and you don't know if the one you found leads to the waypoint way up in the sky. It's completely aggravating for my non-flying toons to have to buy a flght pack just to get to my contacts. I am sure this is also off-putting for many people. Strike Forces They are fun and I like them, but reward less merits on the whole than Blue-side TFs. There needs to be more SFs with content worthy of higher amount of reward merits than the existing SFs. I guess I've rambled enough for now. 🙂

Beacon and Tree are meant for longer fights - not short quick fights. You don't need them for every fight. Really, what is the boost going to do for short fights that last <10-15s? Not much. For short fights - you want reactive healing (Emp, Pain, Kin, etc). For longer fights, the steady increased regen of Beacon and Tree really help and shine. You state as an option for your main desire is to have it available every other fight at least - this is already doable with enough recharge. And 300% regen is a decent boost for your tougher/longer fights, and then when you do have the really long fights and can stack a 2nd, you get 600% which is significant for any character, and a HUGE benefit for any regen, willpower, bio, etc characters. Again, chopping the recharge more, means cutting the duration down, as well as probably the amount of regen too to keep it balanced. This would really make the powers less useful, and skippable. Theses powers are great and fine the way they are.

@NorseStar, @Mister Mass, @Ironblade, and all..... Here is an old Excel workbook that was circulated back during Live for tracking your crafting. I wish I can remember who created it to give them credit - so if anyone knows, please speak up! This is really a masterful sheet, and easy to use, and you can load multiple characters if you want. I love pen/pencil and paper too, but if you (or others) feel like moving into the modern era, give this a try.... IO Mem Tracker v. 1.09.xlsm

New Zombie twist! The dead guy Zombifies running away screaming, "[Player Name] killed me! They're murderers!" and then the ambush of troops come to get their revenge! 😄 Then in the following mish, you can use one of the Zombie / Banished Pantheon / etc foes as your guy that you have to put down again. 😄

First time seeing this thread, but the recharge isn't that bad. Any more and it is too OP. It's base recharge is 200s and lasts for 90s. With max recharge, you can get that down to 40s. That allows you (1 character) to have 2 out at once and doubling the regen buff (it does stack on itself from same caster). Now, not everyone gets max recharge, but even my Traps Defender with Beacon recharge down to 62s can double stack them for ~30s. When I cast Ageless, Beacon goes down to 50s Recharge with 40s of overlap, and if the battle still goes on, I am basically having 2 out perma - as one drops, I cast another to stack. Reducing the base recharge any more would allow for triple stacks, and that is WAY OP. They would then have to also reduce the duration, and that is not beneficial either. So, the current recharge on the Beacon is fine, in my opinion.

Doing the same thing over and over again is not insanity - it's just rhythm, habit, cadence - some find comfort in this; others, boredom. Insanity is: doing the same thing over and over again AND expecting a different outcome each time you do it. 🙂 So, of the characters you listed, they all have swords, which is melee - and you state you prefer range.... so your insanity is playing melee each time and still expecting to shoot stuff. 😄 Well, how about breaking your mold - pick a Blaster, Corruptor, or Sentinel, and instead of creating an homage... just create your own unique hero/vigilante/rogue/villain. I am sure you know enough about the game to know what you like and don't like. You've seen other sets you haven't played and they might look neat. Pick a combo, create your own concept for the character, and try it out.

Completely against this. Accolades are just that - a reward for doing something great or difficult. One should not be able to just purchase them for any amount of in-game or real currency. Too many people are requesting "easy-buttons" for this game and then we hear "the game isn't challenging enough." This request only adds to making things too easy and skipping content. And yes, I get these accolades on ALL my alts and I am happy to do the work, play the game, and achieve these rewards on each character. Again, they mean something to me to have them on my characters.

Hi. Welcome to the game and forums! This is a classic combo and can be quite heavy hitting, however, you are gimping yourself in some areas. Gun Drone - Best slotted for damage, not taunt. Yes, it will taunt anyway and will help keep pesky melee foes off you, but its primary function is providing DPS for you. Most other Blaster secondaries have melee powers, other ranged attacks, etc to add to your overall DPS. Given /Dev has a lot of utility and "ambush" style powers... you don't use them that often on a team and doesn't contribute to your DPS. But Gun Drone slotted for damage helps to fill that gap for you. Additionally, with enough global recharge, you can have 2 gun drones out at once (and if a lot, when speed boosted, you can get 3 out). ....Something to also consider for your build. Flamethrower and M30 Grenade - AR is mostly lethal damage which is one of the most resisted damage types. Having Fire damage mixed in helps increase your damage output. Flamethrower will be used more and is more effective than Buckshot, and does 100% fire damage. M30 Grenade helps with this as well and also does fire damage, but some do skip it because they hate the KB - but it's a great AOE. It's great you have ignite which is also 100% fire damage, but foes generally run out of the burn patch, so you don't get full damage out of it, unless the mob is held/immob'd/locked in place somehow - it's great for AVs, though. I would suggest having all three in your build. Web grenade - don't need that much immob slotting. Slots probably better used elsewhere. The base duration is already pretty long and it recharges really fast. I generally slot just a single Acc/Mez HO in it. If you're looking for set bonuses, then try to find a damage set for the bonus instead of an immob set. Taser - big missed opportunity here. It does really high damage and will stun. Take it and slot it for damage. If you take beanbag too, you can stun a boss, which removes them from the fight (ie 100% damage mitigation). ...just something else to consider/think about. Trip Mines (and Time Bomb that you skipped) are situational. It's very hard to use these on a team that is rolling. If you know spawn points of potential ambushes (like in TFs or some missions), you can set up your own ambushes with these and they do great! These are better for soloing, and more difficult when teaming - but still doable and worth taking Trip Mines, at least. They did make it so you can "toe-bomb" a foe with Trip mine, but it lowers your over all DPS, despite the high damage. Still worth taking, but just wanted to let you know on practical uses vs. seeing it in the planner. Targeting Drone - you don't really need the +perception proc in it, unless you plan to PVP. Targeting drone already gives you +perception and that covers all your PVE needs. 6 slotting purple sets in Full Auto & Sniper Rifle - unneeded. The buff you get from that 6th slot is useless overall and you can use those 2 slots elsewhere, like some endmod IOs in Field Op to help your overall recovery (which is low for your output). You could also potentially get rid of the more expensive Numinas and Miracle in Health and put those slots in Field Op for cheaper Perf Shifters Endmod, Endmod/Acc, and Endmod Rech - would probably also net you more recovery overall, as Field Op is that good. ...something to tinker with. But still don't need those 6th slots with purples either - so plenty of slots you can move around and play with.

Absolutely not! Teammates help keep you alive when it happens! 😄 ....plus, it's just too funny to bounce along with teammates as a monkey.

Dark Armor is a great set! Love it. It can be end heavy with all the toggles, so you have to manage them all early on and as you level up. Once you get to your 30s and 40s with your IO sets and most of the slots for them, you'll really see it shine. Of course, all the extra end management things you can do for a toon early (Panacea, miracle, numina specials in health, slotted up stamina, etc) all as early as you can is advised and doable. Spines is a great AOE set to pair with Dark. You get Quills, which is another PBAOE toggle damage/taunt aura, Spine burst, Ripper (melee cone), Throw Spines (Ranged wide Cone). I would lean towards a Tank over a Brute since you get more HPs, higher resist caps, large AOE radius, and larger aggro cap. With the recent boost to Tank damage output and since you're duoing with a blaster mostly - the better defenses and better aggro management would be more beneficially as the Blaster fills in the DPS hole. Again, it might be frustrating with end management early on, but again, stick with it and it will a beast that you love.

No, but it does use the mobs to buff you. It is working as intended and not a bug.

That what Secondary Mutation is for - it is a self-buff. Mystic Fortune is for those that want to share a buff to stack.

All ATs are good in the end game. And the end game is nothing but min/maxing your character with incarnates. So, pick something you like to play for the journey and ride to the end game. And if you can't decide... that's ok! You have 1000 character slots for all your altitis - make all of your choices! 🙂

Contrary to others, I solo Blasters just fine and at increased levels. It is completely doable. I will always choose a Blaster over other ATs, if given a choice. Blasters also get some very heavy hitting melee attacks - all depending on your secondary, of course. You will also get controls, which will increase your survivability while you dish out all that damage. Sentinels, will provide you with an easier time given they have a shield set, but they aren't infallible either. But they have only the primary ranged attack set. No melee powers, unless you can find one in the epics. In my opinion, they are rather the "easy button" of ranged fighting and kind of boring. Whenever I play mine, I'm always thinking - "I could be doing more damage and killing these the mobs faster if I was on my blaster." 😄 Many also solo Corruptors quite easily and are happy with it. You get a buff/debuff set to help you survive. They can be fun, but when I play mine, again, i think "I could being doing so much more on my Blaster." (Some even solo their Defenders because they get a damage bonus when solo. But you're not going to be near the damage output as other ATs.) Dominators are a ranged/melee class that can deal a lot of damage are soloable. They can be fun, but it's tough until you get perma-Domination. ...So, it depends on what you want to do and play.

Mutation is your origin (which is superfluous) and Blaster is the AT... what are your powersets? We'll be happy to share build advice. All Blaster powersets are good and viable. Like anything, some combos shine more than others, but all are worth playing.

It's been a while since I've played my Rad Defender or Corruptor, but both have this issue: It seems the button for Radiation Infection (-Def, -ToHit) and Enervating Field (-Dmg, -Res) have swapped. This button is SUPPOSED to be for Radiation Infection, but it is casting Enervating Field. It has the Shield and Crosshairs with the downward arc below to show it's a -Def and -ToHit debuff so it's supposed to go with RI - but hovering over it in-game, it says it's "Enervating Field" and it actually casts EF. This Button is SUPPOSED to be Enervating Field, but it's casting Radiation Infection. It has the Damage symbol with the downward arc signifying it's a Damage Debuff so it's supposed to go with EF - but hovering over it in game, it says it's "Radiation Infection" and it actually casts RI. I searched the forums for this issue but found no mention... was there an intentional swap? Or is this truly a bug? Can we get this fixed and switched back? This really hurts my brain from looking at all these button symbols over the years and knowing them, but then trying to reverse these two in my brain so i cast the power I want - owies on the noodle! 😄