Wobegone

TOOL - Forty Six & 2 (Audio) - YouTube

I can't speak for the Soldier, but the Brute will be just fine(I have a level 31 Rad/Rad scrapper). It'll be a bit squishy until the mid to late 20s though. You do get a nice passive regen and recovery boost early. Radiation Armor develops into a top tier set. Radiation Melee is fine...not my favorite but I'm only 31. For a 1st character solo project, I went with a Mace/Willpower Brute, and I'm glad I did. He was self-sufficent early and the lack of Influence wasn't painful at all. It was a powerful and satisfying combo.

This will be true for most of my characters, but every once in a while I like to level from scratch sans bonus xp and seed money.

I think there's still value with early frankenslotting and set bonuses. Early SOs fill gaps beatifully though. A perfect example is the scrapper I'm leveling in Praetoria-Science enhancements are rare drops so far.

This is the part that's baffling to me. You questioned earlier why people continued to play if they didn't like gated content. It's because while gated content was annoying and largely unnecessary, it wasn't a dealbreaker. On the other hand, it was apparently a dealbreaker for 'lots' of players when gated content disappeared? This doesn't make much sense to me. I'm not saying this to disparage. The closest example I can think of is WoW, when they made it easier to achieve raid gear. Some players were furious because people didn't have to 'earn' gear anymore. But that analogy isn't close because most gated content in CoH was cosmetic in nature. Am I missing something? It's entirely possible...I'm not the brightest bulb.

I'm not sure if the following is relevant to you, but here goes: Monday on Everlasting I joined a Penepole Yin Task Force and the leader had the difficulty cranked up. There were several players who didn't have set IOs, and there were a few defeats here and there; still manageable, but a bit of a challenge. In the final mission, the ambushes overwhelmed the team. I saw inspirations popping everywhere, including my own, but players started dropping left and right. There was a sense of desperate excitement I rarely get from teams, even ones as low as level 20. I managed a Howling Twilight just before I dropped getting two teammates back in action...at that point there were only three of us up, and the other two were in danger. By the skin of our teeth we managed to hang on and turn defeat into victory, or at least that's how I fealt. Surviving a potential team wipe was the most fun I've had since I came back. Outside of the occasional Positron or, more rarely a Hollows team, there simply isn't any danger in team play, even PuGs. IO sets are simply too powerful. Now, I like that power. I have enough Influence and stashed IOs to stot ATOs and Winter sets right at level 10. But I missed that sense of danger. The only way I can think of to get that level of danger on a more regular basis is self imposed restrictions. Perhaps a Super Group and/or static team that eschewed set IOs and only slotted say....at maximum level 25 generic IOs. Personally, I also miss flying/jumping/running from zone to zone. Everyone is in such a damn hurry. Again, not sure if any of this is relevant, but that Yin brought back some good memories of my early days of CoH.

Although your single target attack chain won't improve until level 28 when you get Clobber, you DO get Burn at level 18 and Whirling Mace at 20. They wil help immensely. So be patient, it gets better. War Mace is a bit of a late bloomer, especially on Tanks, but it's worth the wait.

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: Teach Your Children

The Byrds: Turn! Turn! Turn! (To everything there is a season)

The Youngbloods: Get Together

Dire Straits: Industrial Disease

Alice In Chains: I Stay Away

Van Halen: Atomic Punk RIP Eddie.

Dire Straits: So Far Away

DC Comics had quite a few who could super leap(as it's called in DC). Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Doomsday, and Lobo all have super leap.

If the Devs decided to open another server with open world PvP, I'd be all for it, especially if it increased the player base. It's not a server I'd visit, but PvP IS popular with many players. I absolutely don't want any kind of PvP, even in limited capacity, to affect my PvE gameplay. PvP isn't my cup of tea.

I think you're underestimating the number of players who don't power game and overestimating the number of players who are vehemently anti-nerf power gamers. That's why the Devs have suggested balance. It's also something I think the majority of players agree with. There isn't some malicious group of players and devs who want to nerf everyone to 'make a few feel good'. Also, adjusting a few powersets, as has been stated numerous times in this thread, is far easier and more efficient than raising the ceiling on everything.

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic: The Police For musicians, The Police are incredibly complex. This song in particular is unique. First, It doesn't use standard tuning. It's in between g and a flat. It also has a Lydian base line in the verse, so it literally walks up 1,2,3 sharp 4. Listen to the intro a couple of times. Even non-musicians can tell something isn't quite right....or normal. Ok, I'm a super nerd.

Tiggs Da Author: Run

Whether intended or not, your posts come across as angry, selfish, and entitled. And I think you mean 'I couldn't give a crap....' I can understand that some players have concerns about nerfs. The original Regen nerfs and the Energy Melee nerfs were heavy handed. But those remain outliers, and there is no question that Regen was extraordinarily overpowered. I don't understand the vitriol and rage when balance is suggested. I have yet to see a cogent reason against balancing powersets. Besides, I trust this Dev team more than the previous one. There isn't a profit margin on the line.

My current tank is level 42 and despite relatively low damage, I actually really dig this character. This is my first attempt at a build and would appreciate any feedback.

Right, that's why I pulled those two threads(sorry, just did a quick scan and grabbed the first two I saw with responses). One has Radiation Melee, and the other Radiation Armor...should give you a pretty good idea on slotting.

Ya know, I thought the same 'til I played Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. Videos with builds and demonstrations weren't just popular, they were fun to watch and educational. I got turned on to them from reading forum posts.

I went looking for a build and saw you'd asked this before. Here's a couple threads that might give you some ideas.

Wait....what were you running? Any story arcs or Task Forces in that 7 hours? If so you'll have reward merits you can use to make money. You also don't mention salvage or recipes, have you checked those?