Heraclea

Energy melee is OK for as long as your primary is not dependent on a self heal or emergency power for survivability. Don't mix it with Fire or Electric primaries, because of excessively long animations.

That cemetery is gorgeous.

Love filling the bace with NPCs, really adds life to the place. But some more emotes would be nice: doing the 'praise' emote (the kowtow) and the 'drumdance' emote would be helpful.

In 2012 I had eight AE slots, having bought the full complement. Will it be possible to get more than three moving forward?

The chief disadvantage of server transfers is that you lose your super group and base.

This one is from the old game. Still a favorite for costume, concept, and bio. I had a running competition with myself to see how much story I could fit into a very brief biography. Particularly proud of this one.

I am a great fan of this combination, so much so that when I remade Heraclea I made her Dark Melee rather than Super Strength. My chief comment is that your build is much more expensive and ambitious than mine. This would have given me eyerolls back in 2012, given the hyperinflation in the market; but it's probably a lot more doable now if you run a lot of Task Forces. Curious about how you fit Hover into your play style.

Super groups are the most straightforward way for your high level characters to share salvage, enhancements, and inspirations with lower level characters. All of my characters basically formed a commune. Even your Incarnate level characters will be running exemped down fairly often and will be getting lower level salvage and recipes. Base building is the other point, it's a mini game in itself.

I would add that: My understanding (did no check) is that a tanker's mez resistance is slightly better than a brute's. This usually doesn't make a difference, but it may if you are tanking a full team's worth of Carnies or such, or anything in Night Ward. A tanker's second problem to solve is endurance. (This is also a much bigger problem for brutes than scrappers.) You will do less damage solo, but you win because you outlast everything. That is to say, if you outlast them. Defeating the spawns with blue to spare should be your second goal. Endurance drain is unfortunately omnipresent, from Clockwork to Vanguard. You need to be ready for this, especially since teamed one of your jobs is eating the debuffs. Solo, it's the difference between a frustrating character and a fun one. My first merit IO investments are almost always Performance Shifter Chance for +End and Numina's Regen/Recovery. The attack sets that do slashing and lethal damage are more broken in the late game than the early game. Those damage types are the most often resisted. This will slow you down to the point it isn't as much fun. Take those attacks if you like the concepts, but be ready to struggle against frequently encountered mobs like Rikti and Nemesis.

Another scene that I really enjoyed making. This is the Torchbearer version of the Forum Olocunæ Encisorumque, by the way. It relates to the backstory of my Roman Amazon characters from New Colchis.

Ran one yesterday. Probably ought to have been publicized here. Excalibur is apparently the server for the event.

Revised plan for Heraclea's aspirational. Kinetic Combats are 60 merits each now, which makes it a lot more practical to use several of them than it was on live. This build drops the Medicine pool, which seems to be useless at level 60 but surprisingly helpful when exemped down, and picks up AirSup and Physical Perfection in its place. Tough and Weave get much earlier buy ins. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Tanker Primary Power Set: Invulnerability Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Flight Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Temp Invulnerability -- RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctArm-EndRdx/Rchg(5), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11), RctArm-EndRdx(25), RctArm-ResDam(37) Level 1: Shadow Punch -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(13), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), KntCmb-Knock%(45) Level 2: Dull Pain -- RgnTss-Heal/Rchg(A), RgnTss-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Mrc-Heal/Rchg(7), Mrc-Heal(15), Mrc-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Mrc-EndRdx/Rchg(34) Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(5), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(7), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Obl-%Dam(50) Level 6: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A) Level 8: Unyielding -- RctArm-EndRdx(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(9), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RctArm-ResDam(13), RctArm-EndRdx/Rchg(37) Level 10: Taunt -- PrfZng-Dam%(A) Level 12: Combat Jumping -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 14: Resist Energies -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A) Level 16: Siphon Life -- TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(A), TchoftheN-Acc/Heal(17), TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(17), TchoftheN-Heal(23), ThfofEss-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(25), ThfofEss-+End%(34) Level 18: Invincibility -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(19), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(19), LucoftheG-Def(23) Level 20: Touch of Fear -- SphIns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SphIns-Acc/ToHitDeb(21), SphIns-Acc/Rchg(21), SphIns-ToHitDeb(31), SphIns-%ToHit(46) Level 22: Resist Elements -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A) Level 24: Boxing -- Acc-I(A) Level 26: Tough Hide -- GifoftheA-Def(A), GifoftheA-Def/EndRdx(27), DefBuff-I(27) Level 28: Soul Drain -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(29), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(29), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Obl-%Dam(46) Level 30: Resist Physical Damage -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A) Level 32: Tough -- TtnCtn-EndRdx(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(33), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33) Level 35: Dark Consumption -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(36), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Obl-%Dam(50) Level 38: Midnight Grasp -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(39), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(39), KntCmb-Knock%(39), Acc-I(43), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43) Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42), RechRdx-I(42) Level 44: Weave -- Srn-EndRdx(A), Srn-Def/EndRdx(45), Srn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Srn-EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 47: Air Superiority -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(48), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(48) Level 49: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Gauntlet Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Heal(40), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(40), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(42) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(31), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(37), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(40) ------------

This is one reason why I've always made my characters' stories about participating in task forces. As game content, they're self contained and very rewarding: reward merits are the easy way to get the IO recipes you want for your characters. And every one is chock full of XPs. It is quite possible to level from say 12 to 50 by doing nothing but task forces, sometimes over and over again, because they get easier every time. By contrast, street contacts are harder to work through. Some of their stories are quite long and rather tedious, and you may only have two open even if you have outleveled them. They are full of kill-all missions, of enemies you'd rather not fight. It's a lot harder to get a team together to run this content, especially after you move past King's Row. One problem is that some badges are only available in these storylines. But since those missions can be accessed through Ouroboros or a Pillar of Ice and Fire, that isn't as big a problem as it once was.

Well, that was quick.

Happened to me in the Bertha mission on Synapse. Taunt, Shadow Maul, and Siphon Life refused to recharge in the mission or outside it. Exemped down to 20, that's 3/5ths of my attack chain. I did manage to break out of it by switching to a second build.

The Prestige system is off; you are under no obligations to run in SG mode to farm for prestige, nor to pay rent on bases now. You can build on any map including the largest, and add any feature to your base for free. You may also add your own alts to the SG with the /altinvite command, which is very handy.

It pays to start with generic IOs at level 10. They don't improve, but neither do they need to be replaced, and those IOs will all be in your lowbie powers anyways. They can be upgraded at your leisure. Keeping SO's in the green, by contrast, is an expensive proposition. You can start thinking about IO sets as soon as you get high enough to start earning reward merits; the easiest way to do that is to run one task force after another. There are some IOs that you want to be as low as possible: the Steadfast Protection Res/Def (damage resistance), the Numina's Chance for Regen/Recovery (goes in inherent Health), the Performance Shifter Chance for Endurance (goes in inherent Stamina); the resist knockback button whose name I don't remember. The effects of these don't improve significantly for being higher level. Keeping them low means they still work when you exemp down to run a Positron. Architect tickets are the key to not having to buy salvage at Wentworth's. Join or make a supergroup and save your uncommon and rare salvage in racks so you can find what you need. Put an enhancement bin in the base as well, and your higher levels can hand down their lowbie generic IOs for up and coming characters to slot.

You can buy salvage racks and put them in your bases. Each rack is a separate vault. SG permissions decide who can take and add salvage to them; I think these can be set separately on each rack. There is, or was, a limit total of how many racks you can put in a base. Each rack can hold 100 pieces of salvage; used to be 30. The limits are generous enough that I added dedicated racks for stuff like Halloween salvage.

If you roll a villain warshade or peacebringer, do you escape the quantum spawns?

Most of the work I've done on the Amazon Army base on Torchbearer has been getting features and function up. But I have added some rooms that are mostly just for fun. This is the spa room so far; will probably add a separate sauna room. If you've ever been in any of the bases I've made, one thing is a given: there will be a lot of pillars. I am grateful that I don't have to use CoT or Japanese styled pillars any more, and that I can pick from more appropriate styles: And now that I can use open roofs, I can add an atrium:

The salvage reappeared for sale last time I checked.