Doomguide2005

I would tend to encourage them to play an AT and sets I felt relatively comfortable with and hence could give advice about from knowing both the character and my SO. I know pretty much nothing about CoD or console play but guessing he has preferences there that might reflect on what he likes in a game in general ... big hard hitting weapon vs smaller faster weapon, stealth/ambush vs straight up firefights vs medic or combat engineer i.e support role. And don't be afraid to swap around. Don't necessarily mean give up early on a character some sets do take a while to mature, but likewise one of the games strengths is the tendency to induce altitis so while 20 3rd level characters might be a bit much having 2 or 3 to choose even relatively early in terms of playing CoX probably isn't a bad thing either. I'd guess a fair number of us had several characters before that first one hit 50 or even 30th way back in the day.

<-- not a keybind or macro expert. More a semi-knowledgeable user growing rusty waiting for life to enable me to get new computer. But unfortunately if I recall correctly rank is not something that can be targeted by a keybind which in turn means no macro. You can target a name, like Gunslinger or Sapper or Sirocco which in turn is usually a Lt/Boss, Minion or AV respectively. If it isn't something I run into frequently (which like "Sapper" will get a keybind or macro) I'll have one which I edit on the fly to "Rikti Magus" or "Lady Jane" etc..

I think pretty much anything will do well paired. CoX is really pretty straightforward at its heart. If it was a solo new player then I'd lean more towards a melee, mez protected character but paired with an experienced player they all should work well for leveling through story arcs and content especially if you pick and play a complementary character leveling together.

Can you elaborate on "have a plan/vision going in"? I ran a WS through early levels (to mid 20's or so) but no idea now if I had a specific plan back then on Live. Don't recall what level the PB made it to, but it wasn't as far. Tankers while I never leveled one to 50 I had several run into the 20's (Ice and Fire that I recall). Don't expect it to be a real issue outside of just doing it. I have had several Brutes to 50 including one who was often the primary tank for redside VG content. No taunt aura (DM/SR) but had Confront and plenty experience switching targets around to keep foes focused on them. Probably end up with Bots/Traps for a MM. Done several /Traps as Corruptor as well as Traps/ as a Defender. Then either SR/Claws, Fire/Axe (recreation) or Inv/DM. A DA/? is intriguing as well. And last leaning strongly towards a WS.

Should be doable given, I think, we've "Master of" solo runs on all ATs at this point by someone. But I don't think anyone has ever done it with all ATs. Now thinking on it I don't think we've seen it on a HEAT yet. Believe I recall a Fortunata doing one though. Less sure if it was a Master. Good luck!

@Clave Dark 5 Tanker is pretty much going to happen. Last time around no SR and no Claws were available yet so ... . My Main is a Claws/SR scrapper. A HEAT will probably happen though finding the right build and not getting sidetracked by several sets I've never played is a big obstacle. Likely to end up being a Warshade. Mastermind is going to be the tough one. Made a couple on Live and they didn't hold my interest or even really had me thinking about what might be the pairing to try. But I'll see. Somewhat ironically (given you're the poster this is a response to) I think what I don't really get into is the indirect form engagement thru the pets so maybe I need to do something petless??? 🤔 would that even count 😜. One of the last characters to really grab me on Live was a VEAT, a soldier build who didn't quite hit 50 before Sunset. Would have but similar to now life+computer issues kept me out of game till Sunset. She ended up 49th and only a few bubs shy of 50. Wouldn't surprise me if a recreation of her wouldn't have happened shortly except for the latest computer/life issues.

Yep, they'd see you at perception minus stealth or since stealth is 0 (effectively since it's ignored) see you at their perception range, the 45, 50 and 54ft etc. (listed previously). This is why and when powers like Smoke or Flash Arrow come in handy beyond their already useful To Hit debuff. They apply a massive debuff to perception (as in a straight up -450ft), enough so that Sniper can't even see his own hands. Not only can he not see the caster but can't see anything or anyone else like teammates whose stealth is far less (most of us) than a Stalker or Illusion Controller using SI

Oh my oh my Pretty much tried every AT. Sentinels being the exception with the excuse my computer did the unfortunate and up and died. Want to get a Tanker to 50. Same for a HEAT And then there's MMs Played all of these but never got into the 30+ range. MM seem doomed unless I can truly retire and get lots of spare time. The others will happen.

Just leave your purse behind. You'll be fine.

Correct, Superior Invisibility the stealth component only suppresses when you click a mission objective. It also has a -threat component which as long as you neither attack or click on a mission objective also remains. If you really want to go stealthy team wide use SI to get close enough to use something like Smoke to debuff perception and almost nothing currently is going to react to anyone.

Just a few thoughts: Cloak of Darkness provides 35ft radius stealth. It is suppressed (10 sec) when you click a mission objective. It is canceled when you are Stunned, Held or Slept. You will be perceived any time Perception - stealth is greater than the distance to a foe. If you are perceived the foe will most likely aggro on you but ... Some foes ignore stealth. Infamously the various Rikti Drones, Rularuu Eyeballs, and KoA. The new ASF and any future content with the new hard difficulty settings have foes with greater base perception. Most foes base perception is 45, 50 and 54ft -> Minions, Lts and Bosses respectively. EB's and AV's are also typically 54ft. Turrets and GM's 100ft. Snipers 149ft, Players 500ft (not sure why this matters since PvP values/rules are likely the only time this matters and they're different AFAIK). There's a wide variety of values the various stealthy powers provide from 25ft to 200ft. Some of them also include a -threat value as well. Depends on how the build or builder values other effects of the particular powers. Cloak of Darkness also provides +perception, resists perception debuffs, the +defense doesn't suppress and provides immobilize protection along with its stealth.

Don't know for certain but I'd guess if you activate after attacking it'll conceal you without delay (beyond any delay normally occurring after activating). The drawback is by toggling off and then back on is you'll lose the portion of the +def that isn't suppressed when you attack. In essence it would be like momentarily getting toggle dropped by mez.

One little side note about GI and many other stealth-type powers. Be careful in Aeon Strike Force especially in the newer hard difficulty levels. While 60ft is plenty on most maps many of the mobs have an improved base perception of 66ft making maps with tight quarters troublesome. At 6ft distance such a mob will note your presence.

Well I'm a lot like you in that respect, I wouldn't build without endurance sustainability as a general course. And when I haven't is was a fairly deliberate act intended to push limits to see what I could do (imagine AR/Dev running Leadership with no Stamina ... ). The first IOs I go for tend to be those +recovery/+end IOs. So yeah personally an endurance discount isn't really all that. But that's my preference and I'm not going to be all that upset if that's what Vigilance ends up offering because my fellow players perceive it as useful for their builds. So maybe some sort of scaling Endurance Discount that always provides some benefit would be more predictably useful.

If that's the case then perhaps some freedom from endurance woes will be had without every Defender build requiring a particular pairing of Incarnate abilities (or primary power choices) will be available. And weeee the goals of ED will finally be met 🤪. I had all sorts of Incarnates on Live, much more limited here owing to computer death. I think 1 Earth/Storm/Stone went Cardiac but generally I shoot for and manage endurance sustainability with my IO build independent of Incarnates. I run way too often at sub 45 in exemplar not to do so.

Heh Vigilance useful at all levels is the goal as I understand. An Endurance Discount is an option as part of the benefits Vigilance conveys. It should be useful at all levels. Just because one may take certain powers or abilities such as Recovery Aura, Heatloss, Transference, Vigor or Ageless and render the Discount moot is not in and of itself sufficient reason to me to not consider such a Discount as part of the package for the entire AT. Edit: personally though it is a pretty underwhelming benefit whose effect I've only really noted once since it first existed. But maybe it's just subtle *shrug* It would be nice if like Scrapper crits and Scourge etc. if you couldn't really build out of it, it being the benefit(s) of Vigilance.

Right, it's a balance to be had between getting too much benefit and pushing too hard for or against a specific team composition. I think part of the issue of coming up with new ideas for Vigilance is the sheer variety of abilities covered by Defender primaries. Ideas that really help a Storm vs an Empath vs FF are diverse especially when viewed through a lens of multiple Defenders and keeping it beneficial without becoming overpowering. In turn that's because the greatest strength of support in general and defenders specifically is the multiplicative synergy of their abilities. Then while it hasn't come up yet (directly) there's the SO only/pre-Incarnate vs post Incarnate complication. Vigilance ideally needs to be a useful inherent at and for essentially all levels of play. In otherwords things like Endurance discounts shouldn't get ruled out simply because of Incarnate abilities, IO sets/builds, or because a particular primary has Recovery Aura, Heat Loss or Transference. Unless, of course, it's decided they should be factored in.

I assume you mean non-stackable for the individual caster. Of course that then has to be balanced against making 8 defenders even more ridiculously potent against content than they are already. PS: And while the new Advanced Difficulty seen in Aeon isn't a response to a single specific suggestion it's equally clearly a response to numerous threads requesting more challenging content in general.

Agreed. As someone who has a whole mass of Empathy defenders (as in 8 at 50 and nearly one paired with every Blast set between here and Live) it's definitely a challenge and neither my reflexes or eyesight is what it used to be. Typically I'm focused on those icons primarily watching for either missing/blinking buffs and for debuffs to show up. But anything that would simplify the visual clutter is welcome. And deciding who to heal with what is more about watching the health (and end) bars than the aforementioned icons at least in an urgent fashion. Perhaps something like "intangible" in red (similar to how "Blinded" shows on your own icon window) getting stamped over the bar would work. Bonus points if this was somehow customizable ... while my Empaths would love the details my Cold defender and scrappers aren't typically too worried about such things and more flashing, blinking text and icons is just more stuff to look through for them.

Doesn't something like Intangible or the self inflicted debuff of using Absorb Pain (as examples) create a buff/debuff icon in the team or pet UI? Not against the idea just curious (it's getting to be span since I was able to get ingame).

What's the conclusion on using damage procs? My brain needs a refresher on the pros and cons of using a proc build on Scrappers particularly in something like Broadsword or Katana. I know overall it's not as impactful as it is on Defenders or other support characters but ...

While I don't disagree that one should ignore these when considering slotting accuracy, combined it's not entirely non-trivial either especially at lower levels. The combined effect is roughly enables fighting +1 mobs while sets without these effects are fighting +0 mobs at the same overall final hit chance.

One likely reason for seeing so much Psi Mastery is the build is already focused strongly on recharge lends itself well to gaining the amount needed for perma IW which unlike Clarion is available as low as 30th while exemplared. And who doesn't like solid mez protection on a support character. I like Carnifax's thoughts overall. I would point out that Superior Invisibility does have one notable edge over Steamy + Group (or other stealth abilities) it's stealth doesn't suppress when you attack.

Claws/Inv plus Tactics and FA. A lot of endurance demand but a hell of a lot +to hit (10+7+5+(2 to 20)) for Invincible plus both CP and PP. CoD entry appears fowled up, isn't stating the duration of FU's to hit buff. Earning Geas of the Kind Ones solo is probably a major non-starter on any melee build though.

Maybe Dual Blades or Claws choosing appropriate looking weapons for them (big sewing needles)0. Either that or any/any and make it a totally visual theme character via costume.