biostem

When did "running from a fight you can't win" stop being a thing? If you get in over your head, retreat is still an option...

OK, but this 50 can't get incarnates, can only use SOs, can't use the enhancement upgraders, and can't gain threads/shards/empyreans/reward merits.

Here's where the problems arise - what the above means to you does not necessarily mesh with what it may mean to the OP or other people. You need to articulate your ideas in a way that someone unfamiliar with your internal vision can understand. Do you want floating runes? Do you want concentric rings? Lots of horizontal/vertical lines? A rippling, wave-like appearance? Tell us something that gets your point across. You post a headshot of one of your characters, but not any of the powers you're looking for...

You must have missed the part where I said:

You want to propose a new blast set that is more "controllerish" or has some new effects, go right ahead. You want to propose a set that summons tentacles or otherworldly entities, more power to you. You want to suggest a set that has some weird forced origin that "bypasses all resistances" or "doesn't manifest in reality", then you're going to get push-back. It is exceedingly relevant to point out that the actual primary and secondary powersets we can utilize are divorced from any specific origin. Your origin is simply flavor that describes the means through which your character produces the effect of their powers. There is smashing, lethal, fire, cold, energy, negative energy, psionic, and toxic damage. That's it! You don't get to introduce new damage types, you don't get to make your powerset wholly unresistable. You don't get to throw out any semblance of game balance or other such concerns in the name of "fun". Look at the existing powersets and work within that framework. Magic does exist within the game setting, and it is fairly well understood there. Even extradimensional gods within the setting play by those well-established rules. This is a video game inspired and influenced by comic books, pulp fiction, and so on - it is not a "let's throw out all the rules because I think X would be fun" sandbox to cater to any one person's wants or dreams...

I suppose it depends upon your interpretation of things, but to me, the exclusion of any sort of taunt power or aura means to me that they are more intended to be a "stand your ground" ranged damage dealer than a blaster, that needs to leverage mobility. It's funny - depending upon which primary and secondary selected, my sentinels either end up feeling super-durable or more vulnerable...

I really like radiation armor.

Of all the Sentinels I've rolled up, my pistol/radiation one is the most fun to play, and sticking with cryo ammo most of the time time I have the same range as blasters. Still, I get your point, and that character's hilarious!

It's a safe, neutral gathering place for players.

How about allowing MMs the choice of summoning only 1 T1 or T2, but have them be of the same level as you...

The more fundamental question here is whether we want to permit people to respond to posts without having to give an in-depth explanation or justification behind their reaction - if we are being charitable and assume everyone has good intentions, then we can assume that someone responding to you has given some thought about a post and reacted accordingly. OTOH, there's the notion that someone might downvote a post simply because they don't like the author. How do you reconcile a desire for free & open communication with minimizing toxicity? it's no easy task...

There was another CoH server that moved controller pets to be the first or second power. It greatly changes the dynamic of the sets, and eliminates and desire or requirement to "build up" to that point. I don't think the solution is simply shuffling powers, but perhaps look into something akin to alternate versions of existing sets - imagine a hypothetical "pyroclastic control" which is fire control, but with the order of the powers and their respective values changed around. Maybe you get imps much earlier, but they are weaker, while the single target hold comes much later but is devastatingly more powerful...

The ATs were added when they went free to play. As my time played can attest to, I like CoH much much more. I got bored of all the tank-mages that could self heal and self buff to the high heavens, while firing off top-tier attacks. Heck, even the pets they have there are boring compared to the few sets MMs here have, and the ones in CO span many different types.

It didn't start that way. When CO was subscription-only, everyone was freeform. It's also a vastly different animal, as you can only slot 1 "passive" ability at a time, which basically represents your entire armor set or focus. There are also no enhancements - you can rank up powers, and some have special effects you can unlock. There's also a sort of tiered role-tree, where you put points into it as you level - each tier represents a role, like melee damage or tanking. There also isn't really status protection in the same sense as CoH - if you get mezzed, you have to actively press button the controller or keyboard to break out, or use 1 of a select few powers that provide that specific effect. A large proportion of powers also have absolutely no cooldown at all, so as long as you have the energy, you can cast that top-tier attack over and over again without pause, 9save for the animation time). At the same time, many powers either require you to first charge them up to get max damage, or to actively maintain them, thereby locking you out of doing other things in the meantime. I got a lifetime sub back when the game was in beta, and I hardly touch it anymore - you basically cherry-pick a few "best" powers that work in all circumstances, then others for flavor. You have your "energy builder" that keeps you fueled, and everything else is just icing. Oh, and you can target yourself in CO, so buffs are very weak and/or very short-lived as a result...

And here I thought this was a thread about that classic horror/sci-fi movie with the giant ants...

You'd get the sentinel, but it's more of a Gradius option the plinks away besides you. Where's the 6th pet coming from? Epics? Incarnates could give you 2 more. Are you counting the decoy phantasm?

The thing is, what would make a set "magic"? Even pistols are simply a delivery method for your attack - they needn't be any more tech-based than a wand or stave. What I'm trying to wrap my head around is how a "magic blast" set would differ from, say, energy blast w/ some fist rune aura. What would differentiate it? I mean, if the OP just wanted a wand or staff blast set, I could get behind it, since it'd be more distinct and could incorporate new or different effects...

I would say that controllers and dominators have the widest disparity between your typical build and those at the highest end of performance. Not to belittle other ATs, but nearly anyone can pick one of them up and "get by", (of course specific exceptions do exist)...

Blame it on a portal accident... or a wizard did it!

Take a look at the upcoming sentinel changes, and consider that armor sets like bio or ninjitsu have ways of furthering your damage. Personally, I really like how radiation armor pairs with sentinel primaries, since you get additional recharge reduction and a perm-able absorb/+recover barrier, so you can keep attacking with reckless abandon...

Sonic assault seems like a natural for illusion, since the -res is a way to indirectly increase the damage your phantom army will do. Savage assault is great not just for the fitting attacks, but you also have a self heal and stacking end cost and recharge time reduction buffs.

I hear ya. In the case of a "Fire Farm", it really shouldn't matter if you pile on the fire attacks to get them to 100% XP, since theoretically, you should be using a character with maxed, (or nearly), fire resist. If you're speaking in general, I've found a combination of savage leap and either a throw knife or archery attacks makes for a good S/L enemy, but that's only in my experience...

I don't know to what extent you have tried creating your own farms in AE, but you can still get decent results. It's not like it was before, but it's still feasible...

Were you running someone else's farm, perhaps one not adjusted to account for the new changes? The game will change over time, and you either adapt or fall behind...

Funny you omitted my 2nd source. I'll ignore your personal attack...