Frozen Burn

Welcome to City of Heroes!! Yes, Blasters generally have a lot. You have your primary for attacks and your secondary is more attacks & utility powers to help keep you somewhat alive. Strong offense is best defense!! But still, a properly played Mastermind would have even more buttons (in addition to Primary/secondary/pool powers) with all the command macros you would want to make for proper command of your minions.

You leveled both - you tell us! People are are going to have their preferences. Many like Shield over SR, and many like SJ over MA. I think both combos you have are great and can't go wrong either way. I lvl'd a Shield/SJ Tank to 50 and love it! I am also enjoying my MA/SR scrapper for that "old school" vibe - not a Tank, I know, but the combo is still fun! ....So having leveled both of those, which do you prefer?

My Ninja Blaster is Dual Pistols. It's a LOT of fun. I love Archery as well and I can imagine it would be just as fun - so can't go wrong either way!

Just so you are aware, Cimerora is supposedly Ancient Rome and not Ancient Greece. So if you want your character to be Cimeroran, you should probably model him after the Romans as @Luminara mentioned. You could certainly have a Grecian character who sailed to Cimerora from Greece and play him that way, if you want. But I just wanted to be sure you were aware of the differences in the zone supposed location, in case it was mistaken as it could impact your character's origin and perhaps how you play them.

Katana really pairs with everything. /Invuln or /SR are both classic - can't go wrong there. /Regen and /Willpower are good too especially with the +Def you can get with Katana to help things miss you and you regen build. I LOVE my Katana/Dark Scrapper - it's a beast! I'd imagine /EA, /Ice, /Ninjitsu, and /Stone would pair well too. I haven't played Bio on a Scrapper yet, so not sure how that does there.

Hmmm... Not a lot of "button mashing" - more "passive" - it sounds more like you may want to play a Sentinel instead. Pick a secondary "defensive" set and basically just use your primary. Your damage output will be lower compared to a blaster, though. But certainly would be minimal button mashing. But if you do want to play a Blaster with minimal button mashing and with some powers you can skip, you may want go /Devices. There are skippable powers in the set (Smoke Grenade, Time Bomb, Taser - although, it does really good damage). You can put out your Gun Drones and Caltrops and just fire blast away while "gunny" shoots (and has a minor taunt) and the "trops" makes things turn away from you. Trip mines could be skipped too, but they're fun for ambushing mobs. If you want something a little more hands on, then pick whatever you want - Fire pairs with everything. Atomic is a great secondary - can't go wrong there. Martial is a LOT of fun Fire is classic, deals a lot damage - can't go wrong there either Ice has a patch which is perfect for Burn Dark can be fun and has Soul Drain Ninja is a cool combo and can also be fun - some great concepts can be made for it too

Katana is fast. Probably the fastest of the melee sets. Gives you some +Def, and gives foes -Def. As @Without_Pause mentioned, lethal damage is suboptimal for the solo tanker. Most Tankers probably also do not take it because they want a set that has more AOEs. Nothing wrong with that. But I think Katana's niche is best on a Scrapper or Stalker where they can really deal out the ST damage. Katana Tankers exist. I think I've seen 2 wandering around Torchbearer. Again, it's all on what you want to play.

The Babbage ambush is keyed on the first person to exit the mission. So sometimes, if the first person to leave the mission immediately ports out of the zone to get the temp power too fast, or if they port to Ouro or their base directly from inside the mission - then Babbage will not spawn in Skyway. I had a friend go immediately from the mission to our base and then to Steel and Babbage spawned in Steel (only then to be immediately droned) - this has happened several times and the issues stopped once he stopped porting directly to Ouro or the base from the mission. Also, if the first person out - and who Babbage is keyed on - goes to the tram to go to Steel to get the temp power, they could be leading Babbage to the drones there. To ensure that Babbage spawns and you get to fight him, everyone should stay near the exit door and don't wander near the tram where the drones are. THere are a couple doors for that mish that occur right next to the tram, so be sure when you exit - GO AWAY from the tram. Once you have him and his attention kept, then whomever can go get the Temp power from Posi in Steel.

Welcome to Blasters! You have a very playable build. Repulsion Field is a crap power. If you're hovering, it's not needed as you can just hover higher out of melee range. And when on the ground, it's still not very useful because things can still hit you several times before it ticks and pushes them away. And then putting a KB>KD proc in it, kind of defeats the point of it. I would ditch Repulsion Field and pick Personal Force Field instead. It can have a use whether you are in the air or on the ground, and you can slot another LotG +Rech IO. That would also free another slot you could put in Maneuvers to pick up a little more overall defense.

I've also experienced this a few times loading directly into Atlas from creator. (I rarely play villains and haven't experienced this yet in Praetoria). As OP says, no big deal to load powers into tray. But it is strange.

Keep in mind, I am talking max recharge to self. There is a cap that a single player can do by themselves before having to use outside help, like speed boost, to get more. A character by themself cannot go beyond 1/5 (one fifth) of the base recharge of any power. I have a couple characters where I do build for personal max recharge and I know of others who do too. I have an Archery/Device blaster where Rain of Arrows (60s base rech) recharges in 12s (one fifth of base) and Gun Drone, I can have 2 out at all times. But then with Speed Boost, I can have 3 Gun Drones out. And no, perma SD is not OP. Currently, you CAN get perma SD, if you work for it. And if you really push hard to your personal max recharge, you can get it down to 24s, which gives you 6s of overlapping buffs. And for the Devs to change SD from 120s to 90s, it's not a question of does anybody already slot so much recharge for it... it's a question of WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE to get the power so low. And then with Speed Boost, you will be under that and get even more overlapping buffs. You can ask all you want, but I don't see the Devs ever changing the base recharge on SD.

Again, those are my opinions and I respect yours. I see plenty of /Dark on Torchbearer. Certainly not as much as others, but I do see them. And I don't think you can accurately say these changes are for the the majority of people - have you polled every player? I am sure in your circle of friends, people may want these changes. In my circle, they would agree more with me. But CLEARLY, due to the lack of responses on this thread, it is NOT a majority of people in-game or even majority of Blaster fans. You necro'ed this old thread that got no traction back in Sept. You cast your vote (as is your right) and I'm casting mine (as is my right). And I never said DS detoggling didn't bother me - I agreed it sucks. It is a pain to have to toggle back on. But I am ok with it detoggling as it is a trade off for having a click sustain power. But that all goes away anyway with incarnates as most blasters take Clarion or Barrier and they do not get mezzed. If the Devs do decide to wrap it up into a sustain power, then okay - whatever. It's just 1 less set that is unique and will then function like all the others. Break out the cookie cutters. I know people (generally speaking) want it easy - most will prefer a toggle sustain power... But yeah, I am OKAY with click sustain powers. You aren't and I recognize that others aren't too and I respect that. But I also know some players who are ALSO OKAY with clickie sustain powers. And yes, a 90s Soul Drain is OP. With max recharge, you can then have it down to 18s recharge, and with the buff lasting 30s, you would basically be able to have perma double Soul Drain. And that, my friend, is in fact Overpowered. Soul Drain is about the tradeoffs compared to a regular BU power. Yes, it requires a ToHit check and you have to wade into melee range to use it. But it's also an attack and does damage (many times, i will outright kill minions with it), the buff lasts 3x longer than normal BU and anyone with reasonable +recharge can have it perma or close to perma. Normal BU cannot be perma - the most you can get it down to is 18s recharge so there is 8s of no buff. So if SD is NOT perma - that is okay - it's balanced! And again, even if you do not get a full 10 mob SD and only get a few - that is also okay as the buff last 3x longer so you deal more damage over a longer time too. Again, trade offs that work fine as is. Sorry, if you don't agree. But I like the set as is except for the few tweaks I stated in my previous post.

I am okay with /Dark the way it is. A couple tweaks, sure. But mostly what is being suggested, I do not agree with. If every blaster secondary had a toggle sustain power, it gets boring and repetitive. I like that /Dark is different. So I am fine with Touch of the Beyond and the mechanics of it being a click power. I actually use the fear component and keep it in my rotation. I also have a Chance to heal self proc in it too that goes off fairly often. (I also like that /Ninja and /Mental both have click sustain powers). I am fine with Death Shroud being just a damage toggle (not combined into a sustain power) and do not care that that it drops when you get stunned. Yes, it sucks to have to turn it back on, but it's just like some of the other blaster secondaries (/fire and Hot Feet, /Sonic and Disruption Aura, and etc) where you have to do the same thing. I will agree a wider radius of DS other than the current 8ft would be nice, but I think Warshade Orbiting Death would be too large (20ft) - that's the same as Hot Feet which while HF does damage, it is also a control power as it makes foes run away (slowly). /Atomic's Beta Decay is 15ft and /Sonic's Disruption Aura is 15ft. So I would think a 15ft radius would be appropriate. ( /Plant's Spore Cloud is 10ft and could also use a bump to 15ft.) Soul Drain is fine the way it is. A 90s recharge is too OP. The buff lasts for 30s (while normal BU lasts for 10s). With max recharge, you can already get SD down to 24s. Also, I'm fine with not getting the full 100% damage buff with <10 mobs because the buff last longer than normal BU and I will do more overall damage. AV fights where there is only 1 mob may be a different story - haven't crunched the numbers on that. But still, I am fine SD the way it is. Dark Consumption is just like Consume in the /Fire set and Power Sink in the /Elec set in that it's largely unneeded as a +End power (except RARE times when getting sapped and -recov debuffed). BUT I take it and slot it with damage sets and use it as another PBAOE damage power. The only thing that needs to happen with Dark Consumption (imo) is the radius needs to be opened up from 8ft to 20ft to match Consume (and Power Sink opened up from 12ft to 20ft too). And sure, Shadow Maul could use a wider arc - can't go too wide with that power! 🙂 Again, just my opinion.

That makes no sense. 25% is a big enough difference and still worthy to pick a Defender over a Corruptor when you want to primarily support your team. And player population picking one AT over another means nothing at all. Sentinels are popular, but the AT sucks and everyone knows they need help. People pick Corruptors because they want to do both damage and buff/debuff. But having both of these functions means there is a trade-off, less of both compared to the ATs that specialize in those areas. And this is FINE and as it should be. It's just a lot people apparently like to play this amalgamation.

I generally pick Defenders over Corruptors. In fact, I generally pick most things over Corruptors. They do less buff/debuff than Defenders and less damage than Blasters. When I want to defend my team, I go with the AT that does it best: Defenders. When I want to do ranged damage, I go with the best: Blasters. The only reason I ever choose a Corruptor is for character concept (and i do have a few Corruptors - but more Defenders and WAY more Blasters). As for the OP, I get it - Corruptors are subpar "defenders" and their damage isn't to Blaster-level and you love the AT and want it better... But I don't think this is the way to do it. This is starting to get into power/AT-creep and the Devs eons ago already ruined the difference between Brutes/Tanks with something similar, which the current Devs have tried to fix with recent Tanker changes, but it's still a negligible difference. Doing similar to Corruptors vs Defenders (and even Corruptors vs Blasters) is a recipe for ruin. Corruptors are where they need to be: Less support than Defenders (because it's their Secondary) and more Damage than a Defender (because it's their Primary) but yet still less than Blasters (because they have a buff/debuff set). A Corruptor's Primary role is Damage with buffing/debuffing secondary - so IF they are to get an update, it should be to the Damage output, but they still need to remain under a Blaster. i would think buffing Scourge so it kicks in SLIGHTLY sooner and/or hits more often would do it. ....but still, I think Corruptors are fine where they are.

Currently, any Grey in a health bar denotes how much "absorb" HPs the character has. So something a little different may be needed. Also, the player who is intangible needs to see their full health as they may want to eat some greens while they wait to become tangible again. But yeah, something to denote their tangibility status would be handy. Perhaps fading the character bar in the team window?

They also can collect over by the Hollows gate, depending on the location of the Rave. I believe it's the South and West Rave locations end up at the tram, while the central Rave location Supatrolls end up by the Hollows gate.

Thanks for all the responses and ideas. I did try playing in "Windowed" mode on both monitors and as I assumed - it worked fine, but I prefer to not play in "windowed" mode and prefer the fullscreen. Going back to "desktop" resolution, still had the same issue. I started looking through the NVidia Control Panel again to see if I overlooked anything and to see if there was something that limited GPU power when something is in the background. I saw where the background framerate default was "OFF" but you could turn it on and select the framerate you wanted. I set it to my monitor's framerate (165fps) - and that didn't resolve the issue either. I put it back to default "OFF." I found the developer tools section and turned that "on" so I could see what the tools are and that flashed the screen several times, seemed to reset everything, and forced the game closed. I fired up the game again, and it is back to normal! I can now tab out without having the screen go black for a few secs and be dim while I'm on the other monitor or on a new window on Main screen. I also then turned the Developer tools back off to see if the issue would resume. More flashing of the screen and game being forced closed. Fired up the game again, and still everything seems "normal" and I can tab out without issue. So something in the background must have reset when turning on/off the developer tools. Again, thanks for all your help and support.

I ran into similar issues when I first downloaded Mids Reborn. Mids Reborn will convert your old Mids files to a Reborn format and then Old Mids will not open it anymore. There really is no point in keeping your Old Mids at this point -- the data is out dated and Mids Reborn will keep what you had when you open the old .mxd file. I completely removed Old Mids and re-installed Mids Reborn. All works fine and I can still access my old Mids files, if I want them.

Hailing from the Southwest, Johnnie 'Point Blank' Hurtz is a respected and successful bounty hunter and tracker. He has made a fortune from working in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. His targets were always surprised how he could sneak up on them and always subdue them at point blank range. Johnnie's life changed the day Archangel Michael came to hire him to hunt a particularly elusive demon. Michael wanted to test Johnnie's skills but to give him a fair chance, Michael granted Johnnie supernatural abilities that imbue his guns with the power to kill demons and the power to affect the resonant frequency of his targets to help subdue them. Johnnie tracked the demon and successfully completed the contract and was eager for more work from Michael. Extremely pleased with Johnnie's work, Michael spread the word and now, Johnnie takes contracts from all the Archangels. Johnnie will still take human or mortal contracts, but only if the target or targets are a worthy prize. Afterall, hunting common criminals and bail jumpers is nothing compared to hunting down and killing a demon. Tangling with demons is nasty work. Johnnie has lost an eye and his right forearm. But a cybernetic replacements keep him in the fight. (DP/Sonic Blaster - with Combat Teleport and Fold Space)

Ugh. Still not finding anything in Graphics Card control panel nor my Monitor's control panel that will resolve this. 😞 But it's only doing this with COH... not my other games. - which makes me think it's COH-related. So, I'm at a loss for how to fix this.

Thanks, App. Yes, drivers are up to date and there was no change in my system's software or drivers - that I know of. This just came out of the blue. Hmmm... Now that I think about it, there was a power outage earlier this week while I was sleeping. When I woke, all clocks were reset and my comp, which was "sleeping," was shut off. Something somewhere must have reset, then. Thanks for suggesting Graphics card - I checked Windows graphics settings, but forgot about checking the Nvidia Control Panel. Hopefully, I can fix it there!

Earlier this week, I noticed something new and odd with the game. I play on a desktop with dual monitors and have the game run on my main monitor (Full screen, NON-windowed) while I have character spreadsheets, and other things open on my second monitor. I have a high-end graphics card and run the game very will in full Ultra mode. Normally, I can just click on the other monitor and there is no change in the game (except sound cuts out) - but graphics stay the same. But earlier this week and ever since, when I click something on my 2nd monitor, the game on my first now blinks to a black screen for 1-2 secs and when it comes back, the game is faded and washed-out looking. Then when I click back to the game, the screen once again blinks and blacks out for 1-2 secs. This is highly annoying. And it's never done this before. I've tried adjusting the graphics settings in game from "Desktop" to "Borderless Monitor 1" and that solves the blinking problem, the game is permanently washed out as if the brightness was set too high - which can't be adjusted for some reason. I don't want to go to "Windowed" mode either. I just want what I had up until earlier this week. So was there a graphics change in game recently that makes the game "mute" itself graphically when tabbing to another monitor? By some chance did something in my Windows settings screw this up - no changes were made recently and I've looked and not seeing anything - and this doesn't seem to affect my other games either. Any help or support to resolve this is greatly appreciated.

@VonLightning I made an Elec/Fire Brute for fun (PVE content) and occasional farming. The fun factor is there and I enjoy playing the toon. As mentioned above, Elec Melee may not be the best for fast damage output for farming, but it still does ok. I still prefer farming with my Ice/Fire/Fire Blaster. My Elec/Fire Brute's build is below. It's probably not the best for farming anyway. And it certainly is a low cost / cheap build (no AT/Event IOs or purples). It might be better if I did a high-cost build. Maybe I'll tinker around in Mids with one. Anyway, maybe this will help get you started, at least: https://www.midsreborn.com/builds/download.php?uc=1506&c=696&a=1392&f=HEX&dc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

I love my Katana/Dark Armor Scrapper. Deadly and hard to kill.