biostem

Given that they go for a few million inf on the AH, that may be too good. Maybe make it an acc enh that also provides kb -> kd, but looses the secondary effect around level 12 or 22, (whenever the other prestige enh's lose their bonus effects).

Blasters are basically the "selfish route" - not that you aren't there to aid your team in completing their task, just that the way you do so is by staying alive and dealing as much damage as quickly as possible...

While I miss the greater detail and color options from CO, I still kind of prefer CoH's character models and animations... *shrugs*

So I rolled up a grav/traps and grav/storm controller last night, and got them up to about 12-15. I'm leaning toward the /storm one, as the animations and powers feel like they gel better with grav. While I've played traps on other characters, I kind of preferred them on my masterminds, where the minions could distract the enemy and allow me to setup my kill zone in peace. I'm going to continue to experiment with builds and power combinations, however. Thanks and keep the advice coming!

TYVM oedipus_tex! I'll definitely have to do some thinking, based upon what you've said. Any suggestions for how to play the set early on? Thanks yet again!

That's definitely some food for thought. I never quite "got" /storm, though - Could you maybe sell me on it a little? Thanks again!

So I mainly play solo, and am looking to expand my horizons beyond the scrappers/stalkers/brutes/MMs/dominators I usually play. I love the idea of containment, and have messed around with taking arcane bolt from sorcery, but found its cast time and heavily magical appearance, (even when set to minimal FX), to clash with some concepts. I was thinking about rolling a grav/FF controller, and making heavy use of powers like lift, propel, and force bolt, against immobilized or held targets, in order to maximize my damage and also as a form of keeping enemies from attacking me. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Yep!

Martial Combat could make for an interesting Mass Effect biotic, or perhaps a Rifts juicer, if you're familiar with that setting.

Welcome to the forums! I feel like those buff pets are supposed to be squishy, to make up for the buff they provide being free and not taking up any sort of power pick or such...

I have a SS/Elec brute named 'Shock 'n Awesome'. :-)

I wouldn't say it bothers me per se - I just chalked it up as an oversight on the part of the original devs; They probably didn't expect people to do a lot of "bunny hopping around". I remember before fitness was inherent that a lot of people used to stack SS and stealth, so they'd take hurdle over swift, since the run speed was already taken care of. It may also have to do with swift also buffing fly speed, which is why the run speed buff isn't as much...

SeraphimKensai said: "For some clarification, as was requested via a message to me, I meant as an Auto Power such as any of the fitness powers, except that you would have to buy the power." This doesn't clear things up at all. Either you mean making hasten an INHERENT power, meaning you get it automatically without having to specifically use a power pick to get it, (which is how fitness is currently, upon attaining level 2), or you mean making it an "auto power", which means that you still have to use a power pick to get it, but instead of it being a toggle or click power, its effect is "always on"...

I concur that TW is very slow going early on. I couldn't get into kinetic melee, and the effect of the build-up siphoning damage from enemies, while cool on paper, just doesn't seem like enough of a payoff to me. SS is still a very good set, though. Have you tried street justice, radiation melee, or psionic melee?

Staff fighting is an interesting set. On a Stalker, though, you lose out on the "Staff Mastery" power, and are permanently locked into Form of the Body. It's got some flashy animations, and even a ranged attack later on, which is kind of neat. It's similar to street justice, in that there's a system of building up stacks of "perfection", then using an attack that removes said stacks for bonus effects...

I know this seems way out in left field, but I almost kind of picture this character as an 18th or 19th century writer - perhaps something like a Victorian-era inspired suit or dress...

There are powers in other sets that are auto and grant a recharge bonus, (like lightning reflexes in electric armor). You'd have to knock the value down to around what that provides, then drop it a little lower still, since pool powers generally aren't as good as primary or secondary ones...

My initial guess is because they do lethal damage, but barring that, the quick attacks, the mini-build up effect from follow up, and the mid-ranged attacks from focus and shockwave, play rather nicely with the non-stop fury-induced frenzy that brutes are known for. I'm currently leveling a claws/bio brute, and she's a blast to play. I only just kitted her out with regular IOs the other night, and it seems like a solid set. Do you folks have any insight or other advice? Thanks!

Make a MM with /traps, /FF, or /Sonic, use the bubble for status protection/defense/resists, then take the fighting pool, combat jumping, acrobatics, and perhaps air superiority from flight and/or one of the pseudo-ultimate powers from pools like sorcery, and make yourself tankier. You can use binds to quickly engage bodyguard mode and utilize powers from your secondary to aid you as you go. Alternatively, I've rather enjoyed the nature secondary on a few characters, and it can make for a rather active set. Another option would be to again go with /FF, but use powers like force bolt to position enemies so your pets can dogpile them, (maybe go for it being a "hadoken" a la street fighter)...

Street justice seems like the obvious first choice. It has a combo system that you want to acquaint yourself with, so you can get the most out of the powerset, but it's not really that complicated if you read the power descriptions. Martial arts does offer punching animations as alternatives to the kicks for most attacks. One thing nice thing about martial arts is that for tankers and brutes, one of the early powers, storm kick, applies a defense buff to you, which pairs nicely with shield defense. I also wouldn't rule out super strength - it's a fairly straight-forward set, but if you're willing to deal with the occasional 10-second "crash", one of its defining powers "rage" is quite good. While not 100% up to date, here are some references that may be helpful: Primary power sets Secondary power sets

I think what they're saying is that there should be a "stay" command, that locks the pet(s) in location, so they don't attempt to close to melee or otherwise follow an enemy in any way. Right now, if I issue a goto command for my pets, then issue an attack command, (or if they're in anything other than the passive stance and detect an enemy or are attacked), they likely will move from the spot I just sent them to, especially if they have any melee attacks in their chain.

Even if you took the 3 attacks and made them into power pools, you'd still need 2 more powers to flesh them out. I suppose you could draw from other sets/powers to fill them out, but it'd still be work. Also, what would you replace those attacks with?

We basically have 3 whip attacks and the swarm/bird animations. All the other MM attacks exist elsewhere. If you include a build-up power, and possibly some kind of PBAoE that doesn't use a whip/animal animation, that leaves 4 other powers to come up with. If you're willing to reuse those animations, then it could be done without having to create all new animations. Heck, you could mix the whip and swarm/bird attacks into 1 beast master/animal tamer type set, if you really wanted to.

I mentioned buying the rare salvage in step 7 of my original post. The "Witch Tunnel" mission I mentioned has elite bosses, which are downgraded to regular bosses if you remain at the default notoriety level. Your tip regarding the temp attacks is well taken, thanks!

Hmm... very strange, then. I wonder what the "jumppack on self" effect actually does. In practice, the power does not behave like any actual flight power - it's just a jump with no limit on the height of the jump arc, while you're holding down the spacebar...