Mopery

I always figured it was great as a new target for mobs to attack instead of my Dom, never considered it as a damage source.

I loved reading the old comics back in the 80's when I was a kid, 1970's Fantastic Four adventures in the Negative Zone were awesome and I hope they bring some of that magic to the screen at some point. Cinema hasn't ever given the F4 the right treatment, and without them you lose the greatest villain in, imo, all of comic book lore: Dr. Doom I've loved the MCU so far, loved the Netflix shows(yes, even Iron Fist), Runaways, The Gifted, Cloak and Dagger, I even liked Inhumans... and I can't wait for more Marvel goodness. If that makes me a fanboy or some other derogatory word in your opinion, then you know where you can shove that opinion: right back up to its origin. I never thought these stories would make it to the big screen with such good production quality. Are they verbatim? No. Have they changed to reflect the times we live in? Yes. Just like all great stories do. Stagnation isn't interesting, it's old and moldy. I'm sure the Babylonians complained when the story of Gilgamesh was altered by someone spinning a new version of the epic, too. Get over yourselves if you're so inflexible and upset that your perfect vision of what the story should have been doesn't coalesce before your eyes, try enjoying that they're happening at all. Hollywood has produced some terrible stuff in its time, modern comic book movies aren't as bad as 90% of previous cinema. Would you rather watch rehashed TV show movies again? No thank you. They were out of stories in the mid-2000's, so Marvel stepped up and said: "Hold my beer." I look forward to Phase 4, and 5, and 6, etc. Excelsior!(RIP Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and anyone else I momentarily forgot)

I started playing City of Heroes within the week it was released after being told about it by an old friend. My first character was a Martial Arts/Super Reflexes Scrapper who I loved to play in spite of how bad SR was back then(terrible until perma-Elude then still not as good as Regen). I played CoH faithfully until 2012. Whenever I got tired of other games, CoH was always there for me. I have always had fun playing it, which I think is what any game's goal should be. If you don't have fun playing a game, then don't play that game. I had just started a two-week vacation when the shutdown was announced, and I had planned on spending as much time as I could playing CoH... instead, I was hit with NCSoft's cruel and spiteful announcement. Try to imagine the people who sold you your most beloved pet sending you an official letter in the mail stating: "We apologize, but we've decided that you're not allowed to have your pet anymore because we still legally own it. In 3 months we're going to come back and take your pet away forever. Just accept that it's the right thing to do and it's the right time to do it, don't bother asking why because there's nothing you can do to stop it from happening. Have a nice day! Sincerely, NCSoft" I felt like a member of my family had been strangled to death while I helplessly watched. I couldn't bring myself to log in again, and I will curse NCSoft until the day I die. It was spring 2019, I had been searching the internet for CoH nostalgia, listening to Lord Recluse's Grandville speech, and suddenly I found a youtube video talking about a hidden server and source code and some serious drama, news that a private server had been running all those years in which I had thought CoH was gone forever. I was pissed to not have been invited to that, but honestly, more than anything, I just wanted to play the game again. Even if NCSoft kills it again, which I know is still a possibility with those donkey felching sons of whores, then at least I got to play my favorite video game of all time one last time. I smoked a fat joint, and enjoyed my afternoon like I had thought I would never be able to do ever again. The only thing I had left from the old servers were my memories of the game back in the early days when the game was much more difficult and a few of my characters had heroic last stands, a couple of which actually succeeded. I remembered a lot, and had forgotten a lot, but I've had a blast these past couple of years. Whichever character I'm playing at the moment is my favorite. I'm an altaholic suffering from altitis so I have literally hundreds of characters across all five servers, although I tend to play on Excelsior.

For roleplaying purposes, I want a rickshaw powered by a Tsoo Sorcerer.

Envenomed Dagger Scrappers can solo just about anything.

As a nerf-herder, I endorse this statement.

Wonky religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good Blaster at your side, kid.

Making builds is time consuming, time better spent actually playing the game. It takes a metric buttload of experience to understand what powers to choose, what sets to slot where, and why you slot those powers the way you do. After making many dozens of builds, and playing most of them, I have developed certain idiosyncrasies in my builds. Sometimes I can't fit everything I want into a build, and it may be difficult to explain to anyone else why I have built the way I do, but to me it makes perfect sense. I would never have learned how to make a build at all if I had not been able to look at various builds posted in the forums, back on Live and here on HC. The ability to read what others have to say about their builds and why they built them that way is important if you want to be able to apply their knowledge and acquire some of your own. I enjoy looking at builds made by other players because I often find myself doing the same basic thing over and over. It's tough to break old habits, which is where observing what others are doing comes in. Sometimes the build another player has made will reveal some mechanics or tricks I've never thought to add to a build, and I'm inspired to rebuild an old character from the ground up. On rarer occasions I can't understand why they have built they way they do, because I haven't actually played the powersets only farmed them up. For instance, I do not understand how to build a Bio armor character at all. I have tried my best and failed miserably, while I have seen others turn Bio armor into godmode. There's just not enough time in this life to master every possible powerset combination... tl;dr - Looking at other people's builds can reveal useful ideas for your own builds.

Wut? Y I got 2 lrn stuff 'n things?!?! 🤪

Apologies per my lack of specificity, I meant up to 5 full sets of each. My hoverblaster has 4 full sets of each, it would be difficult to actually get 5.

Fit as many Thunderstrike and Artillery sets into your build as possible(up to 5 each). Look for any other sets that also give Ranged Defense, get that over 45% and you're golden. My hoverblaster is AR/MM/Force. Not the damage King, but has an assortment of damage types(Lethal, Smashing, Fire, Psi) and 5 or 6 cone attacks. The cost was extremely reasonable(only 1 purple set used, Contagious Confusion for 5% Ranged Defense), don't even think I put ATO's into the build so it's sub-200 mil influence.

At the moment it's my Fire/Earth Dom(Popocatepetl). So much smashy fun, plays like a scrapper but, pardon the pun, dominates. Also love my Thugs/Kin MM(Godfather), Gang War + Burnout + Gang War + Speed Boost + Fulcrum Shift and fuhgeddaboudit...

Yes! Free up those names I want so that someone else can grab them again before I can...

Dark/Plant is a helluva lotta fun!

What if they're away in the military for the next 20 years until they retire and then they want to play the game again on their hypnoflavotronic quantum fantabulator?

The most effective "cheap" build I've made is an AR/MM/Force Mastery, Ranged Defense soft-capped, Hover-Blaster. Thunderstrike and Artillery sets give huge bonuses to Ranged Defense and can be picked up for less than 1mil inf each. I slotted 4 full sets of each set(8 * 6 * 1mil <= 48mil inf). Also a set of Stupefy in Beanbag which are dirt cheap(<4mil for the whole set iirc). Using a set of Contagious Confusion(WoC), a set of Overwhelming force(M30) for even more Ranged Defense gives ~57% Ranged and ~53% Energy Defense (with an AH value around 200mil for both sets). Without these it wouldn't have near-incarnate cap Defense, but would be much cheaper and nearly as effective in most situations. This build is a Cone King, lays waste to groups from a distance(Full Auto, Psi Scream, Flamethrower, Buckshot) and is safe from all but flying melee enemies. I would bet these sets could used to make a similar build using say, Fire instead of AR, and/or a different Secondary for less than 100mil.

That's a whole lotta Dan!

"You have waaaaay too many hours played." - Maria from Steel Canyon

Mids stopped working and now when I go to the site to download it Firefox tells me there's a Trojan Virus and to beware. I try reloading an old copy and Bitdefender shuts it down. WTH Mids, you were working earlier today?! I just erased 50+ builds trying to get you to work again....

Sucks?

I have quite a few top of the line, "money is no limit" built characters. One of each AT and then some. I don't have a ton of Inf, perhaps 300 million on hand on my whole account. Probably enough with merits to make 1 more build, which as an altaholic is generally the goal. Having these things does not interest me enough to play the game on a regular basis. I play for the comradery and the joy of teaming with this awesome community! I don't feel like I absolutely must have the best build, or be the most productive member of the team. I don't mind when the team wipes because we bit off more than we can chew, it's fun giving it our all even if we fail! Sometimes I like doing easy repetitive TFs, sometimes I like doing hardcore "die and we lose" TFs. Never since this game began back in 2004 have I felt like I "need" a certain amount of Inf to make it worth my time to play CoH/CoV/GR. I play games to have fun. If I'm not having fun, then I stop playing and find something else to do with my time. In all this time, I have never played CoH/CoV/GR and not had fun. I've played other games, and when they became a grind, and it became like work... there was always(ok, except 2012-2019) Paragon City to return home to. Like many others, there is no way to explain the feeling of loss I had when I couldn't log in and just fly around my beloved city. Some players will understand exactly how I feel, others will not, and that's okay! We all play this game for our own reasons, I enjoy making characters and can't play any character for long if I don't like the concept/costume/bio. Some players want their characters to be maxed out to the nth degree or they can't stand them, even if their costume is generic and their name is xX LEGENDMAN Xx or w/e. As long as they enjoy it, then good for them. Long story short, I don't know why anyone plays this game, only they know the answer to that question. P.S. - If there is a character named xX LEGENDMAN Xx out there, no offense was meant, you do you, buddy!

I want [A Peeling], where your clown MM throws banana peels over an aoe and everything slides on it with no inertia(think icy pond effect) with a high chance of falling(and sliding more). And of course [Cream Pie Toss] and [Flower Squirt].