Ultimo

So... I've been leveling a character (based loosely on Reed Richards). I gave him Electrical Affinity and Beam Rifle. Now, the rifle is pretty fair. He's a Defender, of course, so it's not doing a ton of damage or anything, but it looks right. The issue I feel I'm having is with Electrical Affinity. At first, I thought it would be good for him, but I'm rather underwhelmed by it. Its healing power seems pretty weak, and it offers little actual protection, either to the team or to the character (Mister Mech). I don't know, what's the general opinion of Electrical Affinity as a power set? Am I missing something? Is it awesome and I'm just not seeing it? As a secondary thought... I'm not sure what else I could give him. Obviously, there's no stretching powers, so that's out... He's known for his gadgets, so the beam rifle is good for that. His actual powers, though, are essentially melee. He's a puncher, and soaker of damage... more, he often controls his enemies by binding them with his arms or body. Ideally, Mister Mech should be using the same kinds of tactics, binding and hindering enemies... and I can get some melee and toughness from the Fighting pool... so what other set would you use (while keeping the beam rifle), and how would you rationalize it?

I actually did try that, but it grated on me. I kept seeing it as a misspelling... or perhaps the thought that others might see it as a misspelling... and that that bothered me too much. What can I say, I'm a victim of my high school English teacher, spelling errors are like nails on a chalkboard to me. (Do younger generations even know what nails on a chalkboard sound like? I mean, it's usually all whiteboards and Powerpoint these days...)

Ya, I do have a variation of Canadian Shield now. I tried Canadian.Shield, but that was taken... so was Canadian-Shield, Canadian SheiId, Canadian Shie1d, -Canadian Shield-, -Canadian-Shield-, CanadianShield, and so on. Brackets aren't allowed, the game doesn't recognize most letters from other alphabets that look the same as english, and so on. So, I ended up with two versions of the name (one is on a Tanker, which is what my character was on live, and one is on the new, Brute version), Canadian'Shield and Canadian - Shield. Being a little bit of a purist, I still find it really frustrating that my characters have those extra little blips in the name, but it is what it is. We do have @ handles, I wonder why they don't do what Champions Online did, and include that in the character's name? That way if I made a Canadian Shield, his actual name on the server would be Canadian Shield@Ultimo (though it would only display Canadian Shield). If you also made a character named Canadian Shield, you could use the same exact spelling because as far as the server is concerned, the name would be Canadian Shield@Tahlia. Of course, in the game, they would appear to have the same name, but the server would know different. That way, everyone could have whatever name they wanted for their character, without worrying if someone else already used it. I'm no programmer, but I can't imagine it would be all that difficult to do...

Ya, I've tried things like that before, but they're never quite good enough, or else they're already taken too. I wish there was a way to know if the characters sitting on the names are actually characters people are playing. For example, if someone made a character and called him Canadian Shield, but hasn't played in years, chances are they're not going to, and they're making it impossible for me to name my character correctly.

Oh, that's a good one.

I've been tinkering with the idea of making him a Blaster... Beam Rifle and Radiation Manipulation. The premise is that he's manipulating subatomic particles to soup up his rifle and to beat up enemies. This works for me in that he's got the gadget gun, and also fights in melee fairly well (which Reed does), plus there's a couple of holds and debuffs, which also suits his style. Of course, he'd be pretty flimsy, but in the FF, Reed often doesn't get as directly involved. I mean, the typical story has Reed and Sue off coming up with a plan while Ben and Johnny keep the bad guy busy. Then he drops in and finishes them off with some kind of gimmick. I don't know... Still considering it.

Perhaps the way to go about it is to analyze his role on the team. The Thing is clearly a tank, so Tanker. Human Torch is likely their DPS, probably a Blaster. With her force fields, Invisible Girl is the "Healer," though in this case it's more support through bubbles. That covers the trinity... so what role does Mr. Fantastic play? How does he fight? Usually, he's binding up the bad guys, wrapping them in his arms or whole body. That suggests a Controller or Dominator. He's also often the one that takes the foes down with a single brilliant strategy or last minute device that counters the foe's specific abilities... but I'm not sure how that would work in CoH. When actually in a fight, he also does throw punches, which I could easily get from Fighting... He's proving to be a challenge, conceptually. Right now, I've got him in the game as a Defender, Beam Rifle and Electric Affinity. The Beam Rifle seems in character, in the comics he's often depicted with a gigantic complex gadget zapping the enemy with something. It's the Electric side of it I'm struggling with, I think. I took it initially, thinking I could rationalize it as being a connection to technology in some way, that he draws power from it... or something.

When I created the character back in the day for live, he was called the Red Death. Unfortunately, like most other names, it's not available.

To clarify, he's not THE Red Skull, he's just based on him. His powers are Mercs and Radiation, so I initially thought scourge or blight. He wears a red helmet and rebreather mask to protect him from the toxic clouds he produces, which gives him a vaguely skull-like appearance. Scourge was my first choice... but as with most of my characters, the name isn't available.

That raises an interesting question. Many moons ago, my brother and I used to make comic books, and many of those characters inevitably found their way into City of Heroes (and Champions Online). Ultimo was one of them (and I know Marvel has an Ultimo... but they used Speed Demon after we did, so I call it all's fair). I wonder if NC could lay claim to those characters when they've appeared in other, prior work?

What you guys think? The character is based on Red Skull, but I can't decide on what name I want to use. My first thought was the Red Scourge, but that's in use. So, I looked for other names, and came up with the Red Blight... but I'm not sure it carries the same sense of menace. I recreated him as the Red Bane... but it just lacks a certain something I can't quite put a finger on... I thought about the Red Woe, but I can't play if I keep hearing Keanu Reeves in my head. What do you guys think, Blight? Bane? Something else?

Ya, I've tended to go to Electric Blast because it has a couple of "constructs" along with the blasts (eg. Tesla Cage). Even the Ball Lightning has the look of being an object he's constructed out of the electric energy and tossed at an enemy. I've got him to around L10 now... and I'm liking it pretty well. His blasts hit a lot harder than the Controller or Defender, and his defenses seem to be fairly decent (I also have an Energy Blast/Invulnerability Sentinel, and he's fairly tanky too, and a Water Blast/Willpower one who is pretty darn tough...). I miss being able to support the team, though... but I solo 90% of the time, so that may not be an issue in the end.

Green Lantern's powers usually involve some kind of beam effect. Neither Gravity nor Time provide anything like that. More, Grav relies heavily on Propel, and GL isn't known for teleporting things at enemies. Moreover, I already have a Dr. Strange/Fate type character who uses that combo. I did think about Energy, but it's just a bit too blasty. I mean, GL doesn't do a lot of just zapping enemies, he's creating objects to bash them with, or containing them in bubbles or chains or what have you. I'm trying out the Electric/Energy Sentinel now... we'll see how he goes.

I've actually been tinkering with an Electric (or perhaps Radiation?) Blast/Energy Aura Sentinel. The defenses are pretty decent, and in keeping with the GL look and style, and the offense still includes some control effects while also hitting rather harder than a Defender or Controller.

I really wish we could alter its appearance. I have a Darkness character for whom a big wolf is just not his style. Some kind of specter or some such would be better.

This character is based on Green Lantern... but I just can't seem to get comfortable with any of the ATs... so I thought I'd come here and see if anyone could offer some insight. Now, Green Lantern is capable of a lot of things, so here's the general idea. He should have the ability to control his foes, binding them in bubbles or constructs of some kind. He should be relatively durable, capable of surviving if he comes under attack. He should have SOME kind of direct attacks... the more powerful, the better. It would be nice if he can also provide protection for his teammates (though I usually solo). My first attempt was a Controller, Electric Control and Force Fields. He can control enemies in electric constructs, and with PFF and the appropriate pools, can be fairly durable. He gets some blasts in both sets, things like Jolting Chain, Force Bolt and Repulsion Bomb, and can even protect his team. - However, I didn't get all that far into playing him. He was PAINFUL to play, doing next to no damage, being forever out of endurance and... the sounds just lacked any sense of power. The second attempt was a Defender, Force Fields and Electric Blast. He has a tiny bit of control in the Electric Blast set (Tesla Cage) and gets the Detention Bubble (though it's of limited use). As with the Controller, he can be somewhat durable with PFF and the pools. His blasts are better, but still kind of weak. The problem I'm having is that I dislike so much of the Force Fields set. PFF is solid, but prevents me DOING anything. Force Bolt does no damage. The bubbles are no good to ME, and Dispersion Bubble is just big enough to look awful, and block visibility... but too small to encompass allies unless I'm right on TOP of them... which puts me in melee range. He also has a lot of endurance trouble, but nowhere near what the Controller was dealing with. The third attempt was a Peacebringer. I've never played one before, but I expected him to perform more or less like a Sentinel, with some decent blasts and some personal defenses. However, I find him REALLY squishy (though I expect he'll improve), and REALLY bad for endurance. More, he can't control enemies or help the team, and has no constructs he can use. I gather there's seeker drones or some such later. I thought of doing him as a Dominator... but there's no personal defenses. I thought of doing him as a Blaster, but there's the same problem. Corruptor would be the same as the Defender. So, I'm at something of a loss. Any suggestions?

Wow, I'm surprised to see it's still down! Oh well, these things happen. I can beat up bad guys tomorrow.

I did consider that... but Reed never really relies on bots, but more on gadgets he uses himself. I could do Beam Rifle, perhaps, but what would be his secondary. He could do Traps, but he would need a primary. I wouldn't want him to be ALL gadgets...

So, I'm tinkering with another story arc, and wanted to include a superteam based on the Fantastic Four. Invisible Girl (Gravity Girl) is pretty easy, she's got force fields and gravity controls. The Thing (The Crag) is also pretty easy, I gave him stone melee and armour (though I had originally thought to use Bio-armour, but it's not THERE?). The Human Torch (Blazing Boy) is based in Dominator powers, fire control and assault. That leaves Mr. Fantastic. Now obviously, there's no stretching abilities. However, Reed Richards is also a supergenius, and his inventions might arguably be thought of as his actual main power. On the team, he's the leader, and often defeats enemies by controlling them (eg. wrapping around them) or protecting his team, so perhaps a controller or defender set would be in character. But, I'm undecided, and thought I'd poll the audience. If you were making a character based on Mr. Fantastic, what power sets would you give him?

Ya, outdoors, or perhaps a town. I'm using parts of St. Martial (I think) for occupied Europe, but there are other areas I wanted to include that I can't quite figure out yet. Omaha Beach would be awesome, but I haven't found a decent beach map yet either. Cimerora will provide me with some maps worthy of the Sicily campaign. I'm sure I can find some open ground maps or farm maps for the early parts of the European war. And then, there would be some Axis bases I can use the Council maps for.

I'm tinkering with an arc for the AE that is set in the Second World War. However, I'm having trouble deciding on the maps I want to use. The first mission should take place in North Africa... can anyone suggest a map that would be appropriate for that?

Ugh. Trying to see the maps is impossible, they're so small in the top right corner, I can't tell what's there, Xs Os or anything else...

So a room with 4 Xs would spawn four enemies? Not four GROUPS of enemies? Would it spawn multiples of the same character? It should be four specific enemies that appear, not just any combination of any four...

I've been tinkering with some ideas, and one of them would involve the hero(es) fighting a TEAM of supervillains... but I can't figure out how to get the game to put several boss level enemies together in one location. Anyone know how?

Don't you trip a lot? I would think that would be awkward.