[If You Wrote The Lore]

The first of business is to canonize Stickbonker as Mayor.

 

Everything after that can, and will, be blamed on the mayor.

[Lack of RP conflict between heroes and villains?]

On 9/7/2021 at 5:51 PM, Oginth said:

I don't have a long history with CoH, but during my initiation run with HC (last year before my PC exploded and I didn't bother to reinstall after I got a replacement), I was thinking maybe I would see some sort of RP conflicts, that out of tradition, villains always lose, but not before giving the heroes some troubles worth conquering. When I learnt that CoH has a base system, and once had base-invasion gimmick, I even imagined of RPing base invasion.

 

I might not have experience everything RP in HC, due to my timezone and limited stay with HC, and me not initiating anything but just going with the flow, but what I saw are player heroes staying with player heroes, player villains staying with player villains, they rarely cross paths except when it's drinking and dancing time.

 

There is that Mission Architect, and some SG do provide some RP experience, but it's still player heroes vs AI (and GM?), are there any for player villains? And still, outside of PvP, heroes don't RP fight villains. It's kinda boring for a world with heroes and villains.

 

I do not know what I'm expecting, or how RP conflict should/would work, just my opinion, this thought comes out of nowhere as I reinstalled HC after nine months of absence.

 

So, when I first found the game in the time before time and I was TRULY baby, I thought that villains, like, any character MADE as a villain who inhabited the world of city of villains, was a bad guy -- automatic. They were playing villains as villains and we didnt get along because I grew up in a world before villain team-ups were main stream (Spider-Man 3 had like, JUST come out maybe a year or so prior). And the same was true for me for heroes. Heroes were heroes who wanted to help and save the day and team up and stuff.

 

Now, the reality is this isnt the case. "Alignment" is a game mechanic, your "villain" can by all mechanics be a hero -- they can stand right behind Miss Liberty in atlas park and yell about the glory of Lord Recluse or whatever they want. So we have to look for narrative alignments.

 

That takes us into the most important aspect of RP -- Consent.

 

Just because you're playing a hero, doesnt mean you consent to being harassed by villains. Likewise, just because youre playing a villain doesnt mean you consent to being harassed by heroes. We are, mostly, strangers here. Let's just have an example.

 

Major Malus (Agent Malus, Arbiter Malus) is my arachnos guy. He's handsome, well spoken, dutiful, dedicated. He enjoys simple things in life, like upholding the law. His backstory is basically "wow super powered psychos like Mako sure do suck, i sure wish somebody would come along and keep those guys in check" and he became the change he wanted to see in the world. He can usually be found in the isles, running mission teams under the RP auspice of "Ok, things need to get done around here and trusting villains to do them unsupervised is exactly how we end up with a pile of bodies that didnt need to exist", but you can catch him in the Rikti Warzone, and even Pocket D.

 

Now... Ive enjoyed some scenes with Longbow characters. I like these scenes because it gets a chance to have some fantasy ideological banter.

 

What I don't do is go over to Longbow characters, or super HEROES and say "Hey fuckboy, you grow a dick yet? You big enough to kick puppies and kidnap kids and headbutt grannies?" because not only is this against the character's entire premise, but frankly, the only reason to directly antagonize another character is because YOU are looking for more conflict. Now, sure, you could be playing a character who thrives in instigating these sorts of things (Crom comes to mind as a character who deliverately was made to be obnoxiously obstinate and conflictious) but, generally, people are not playing those kinds of characters, because most people arent interested in pulling people into that sort of RP tone. It's not fair to expect a person to react positively when you come up to them and go "Heh, lookit the little capey wapey. You mad, capey wapey? I flayed THREE babies today and drank their yummy nummy eye juice and YOOOOOOU didnt save them heh! You gonna cry? Piss your pants maybe? Maybe shit and-" and you get the idea.

 

I wouldnt say a lack of conflict between alignments is a problem. Some villains are small time crooks nobody has heard of, some heroes are bibically awesome pseudo-gods who send criminals to prison by blinking at them -- and the inverse is true. Some heroes are just randy street level do-gooders while some villains are card carrying members of the global extinction perpetrators club.

 

What would you say to Darth Vader if you saw him just chillin at a bar post Alderan explosion? Are YOU gonna be the guy to walk up and be like "Hey that was a DICK move, dude, for realz" or, likewise, what are you gonna say to Batman? "Heheh BATman? More like... DEAD PARENT! Ha! FACE!"

 

These things take nuance, trust, and time. All of these things can be spent on NON-conflictive RPs as well and leave people just as satisfied.

My remedy would be to have like... a "Be my antagonist" thread, where people could advertise a character they want an antagonist for to participate in more combative (not neccessarily pvp) RP. People could suggest their characters who're looking for the same.

 

TLDR; We need Tinder, but for Arch Enemies.

[That set you want to play but can't seem to get around to it...]

On 1/30/2023 at 6:19 PM, Snarky said:

I suppose AR Devices.  I have played it.  But never for long.  Never done what I always thought I should with it….solo Redside.  
 

I heard back on live about the strategies of building traps and forts and just screwing with mobs through pulls into death traps.  
 

Someday I will get around to it I suppose 

 

I like /Traps, which is the version classes with the horrible, terrible, miserable misfortune of NOT being born a blaster get instead of devices. Theyre all very fun, and my Beam/Devices blaster, while i play her not as regularly as I should, is also really fun.

[That set you want to play but can't seem to get around to it...]

On 1/28/2023 at 9:51 PM, Mjolnerd said:

I think a big part of the problem is that I've never really been able to make something with it that grabbed me on a conceptual level. It's always been, "I want to make a plant controller, so I'll make one" and never "I have this great costume/name/idea that I'm really excited about, and Plant Control is the powerset that works best for it so that's what I'm going with."

 

I was just like you, once. I too was a little baby who couldn't touch grass. I was suffering from GAMERITIS! It was horrible.

 

But. You know who helped me out?

 

 

This ol handsome guy right here. HE believed in me, when nobody else would. Now look at me!

 

Nowadays, I'm a real fungi.

 

22 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

For me, sort of, it'd a Kin anything... I think it feels like I'm playing a toon with only one power set and the Kin set is like "just some buttons to click for no real reason" which make no visible difference.  Sure sure, I know the math behind them makes the team godly, but it doesn't feel like I've really done anything, leaving me at just "time to click some more of my Dual Pistols I guess" or something.  And that's OK, not all sets and meant for everyone.

 

Or maybe I just haven't hit on one with the "wow factor" that I need to inspire me to take them further.

Have you considered making Kin you're MAIN power?

 

This is my Kin/Sonic defender, and quite honestly, I do more work with Kinetics than I do Sonic. SONIC ends up being there as a debuff tool more than an offensive set, with MOST of my damage coming from Syphon speed having that Imeded Swiftness damage proc (you could slap an Ice Mistral's in there too, if you wanted) and it becomes a very reliable mainstay attack power. You could slap the "Chance for Disorient" from Energy Manipulator into Transferance and turn it into a passable stun.

 

I would also reccomend maybe playing Kin less as a "support" set to help your team, and maybe, more like a set to help yourself? I know it may seem odd, but, after the nerf to Sonic Blast's -res came out this toon became... functionally fucking terrible. Like, I don't think I *have* a more useless character. It hurts, but, it gave me a love for Kin that I took to an Ice/Kin controller, which I *HIGHLY* reccomend. You can give yourself a couple of proc'd out AoE damage fields, you have TONS of movement and -rech control, as well as normal controls! It might not help solve your "im only playing one set" view, but, it might help it become a set that feels so complimentary TO your main set that you recognize what it does for you, and how it helps you and engages you in how natural it feels to play alongside the set youre using.

20 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

Controllers.

 

All of them.

 

Even.... THIS ONE?!

16 hours ago, Nyghtmaire said:

Scrappers. Every time I go to make one, I end up going for either a tanker or brute. I *know* the numbers, the majesty of the AT procs. I love perusing the forums. Alas, I just can’t land on a pairing that I need to keep. I white-knuckled one to 50 (which I rarely play), despite a lovely costume and bio. I think it has something to do with the sound of  the vowel in the word, “scrapper”. 

Can't spell "scrapper" without "crap".

 

I was the same way though. Scrappers are strange creatures. I can highly reccomend Katana/Bio Armor though. Bio armor on a scrapper was an awakening I had while playing a Katana/Bio scrapper and loved every juicy minute of. The only reason I don't play her more is because she's a metal gear rising reference, and there was a very not nice person who ALSO was running around being very ugly to other people and it's been hard to shake the association despite us not interacting much at all.

 

15 hours ago, dangeraaron10 said:

 I like all the ATs in theory except for VEATs that aren't Crab Spiders.

 

16 hours ago, dangeraaron10 said:

Except for VEATs that AREN'T Crab Spiders.

12 hours ago, ninja surprise said:

1. Battle Axe.  I love the KD crunchiness, and the revamped Battle Axe is a thing of beauty... but I keep making alts, not finding a happy pairing, and leaving it behind.

I'm in the same boat. Axe got a revamp, Im told it hits as hard as Titan Weapons USED to hit before THAT rework took away how hard they hit. I've never played any version of TW that wasnt the current one, so, I wouldnt know? But apparently Battle Axe slaps now. It's just uhh... well?

 

I mean, I already play minecraft...

On 1/28/2023 at 9:26 PM, Sir Myshkin said:

Got me curious what's everyone else's one set, for whichever AT, they want to play but never seem to get off the ground?

P E A C E B R I N G E R S

I can't for the life of me play these guys past 30. I really WANT to! I think like, I ADORE their VFX, I love the idea of getting flight for free, I love the variety of powers they have, and I have a couple of PBs that are SUCH fun characters... except in the gameplay department.

 

Because uhhh... I dunno what it is but my PBs miss literally 80% of the time or more. I don't hit ANYTHING if I don't use the build up power, and then MAYBE one guy will get hit. Maybe. Not only that, but I get to attack maybe 3 times every 10 minutes with how much Endurance they seem to suck through. They get to around 30, which for me is the point where a character is either dying more so often they're simply unfun to play anymore and the only solution would be to juice them up with IOs I can't afford, or, they're just not fun to play. Peace Bringers for me tick both boxes. So, I just retire the gameplay aspect of their character, which inevitably leads to me neglecting the character for forever and ever (forever).

[So, what do we think about Savage?]

On 6/16/2022 at 11:49 AM, Blackjoy said:

I have not quite understood Savage Leap.   If it's up and I have a clear path, I will start with it.  But it seems to have low accuracy, even double accuracy slotted.   I also don't use as part of any chain as i am under the impression it is not great in melee. 

While this is a Scrapper thread, I do like Savage Leap on Stalkers. Slot the "chance for hidden" into it and it's a great party starter. Hit build up, leap in to get a few stacks and deal DUMMY damage on a guy, turn invisible, hit assassin's frenzy to deal OMEGA DUMMY damage and get a few more stacks, then hit Rending Flurry to clean up the mobs. I'll either be at max stacks, or just under it. If I'm AT max stacks, everything's bleeding to death. If I'm NOT, then whatever, Im a Sav/Bio staker, i can hit DNA Syphon and that'll usually edge them within DoT death range.

 

(Small edit, you can also take Placate on a Stalker and if you do, you can go BU > SL > AF > PLACATE > RF if you want to benefit from the Hidden status' chance for crit)

Now, I say this because theoretically on a scrapper you could do something similar. Slot the "50% chance for crit" into it and leap in from 10 yards and hope for the best. I'm not sure if that'd be BETTER than just slotting it into build up or whatever, I'm not a big scrapper girl, but! It's an option I guess. It'd free build-up to have a full suite of gaussians in it, so you could like...

Snipe (w/ chance for build up) -> Savage Leap (w/ 50% crit proc) -> Rending Flurry -> Build Up (w/ chance for build up) and now you're back up to max stacks for whatever you want.

 

Sure, you're losing on on SUPER MAXIMUM ULTRA OMEGA WHOOPDY RENDING FLURRY but there's a precedent for NOT having Rending Flurry burn all your stacks (it's also got a pretty fast cooldown, if you take haste you could probably get this combo nearly perma'd)

I don't think this is as cool as the Stalker, but, hey, if anybody was looking for a way to fit Savage Leap into a Scrapper rotation, there's my 2inf

[He Man Homage]

On 1/25/2023 at 2:13 AM, smnolimits43 said:

Would He Man be a scrapper or a Tank ??  Would he have a broad sword or Titan Weapons ??

 

He's very clearly a Symphony Control Dominator

 

[How are folks slotting Reverberant?]

On 1/20/2023 at 7:33 AM, Meknomancer said:

 

It goes on and on. Turns out this is the way to go, so big thanks to @Redletterfor the post. I may try the chance for extra controls in it but i am much happier watching the extra damage tics.

Oh it's good damage! It's honestly *great* damage, and realistically you can fit more damage procs into it than control procs (they're also more NOTICABLY impactful on a Dominator, since with Domination, YOU will have more than enough magnitude on your controls to keep things, well, controlled).

 

Believe me, I like orange numbers. I like *BIG* orange numbers and you can proc it out like mad to like... what? Quadruble your DPS? It's an genuinely bonkers boost, im glad youre enjoying it,

On 1/20/2023 at 7:33 AM, Meknomancer said:

Whats most confusing is when they fire off. I thought the pet was supposed to mimic attacks. I fire off a hold and the immob proc goes off in pet, i fire off the immob and the fear proc fires in pet, I fire off the fear and a hold proc fires off in the pet. 

So, the reverberant and how it echoes you are weird. It holds onto powers for longer than you'd think, and will use powers it has. I *think* it uses them, in rotation, like a que. But I could be wrong, I havent tested and I don't remember if it was detailed in the feedback thread for Symph Control -- I know I asked about it.

 

Regardless, it's not that the pet is copying moves you havent given it. You can test this by just using ONE move, it will only use that ONE move. It doesnt use the attack that YOU are using WHEN youre using it though. Functionally how it "gets" your power is that by USING a Symph Control power, it "grants" a power to the pet (i BELIEVE for a set duration but I could be wrong), just like how Positron 2 "grants" you a jetpack power. The pet, now having a power to use, will use the power it has. That power will go on cooldown, like any power would, and it will try to use another power. If it doesnt have one, it won't do anything until that one power it has comes off cooldown (I don't know if using that power would REgrant the power to the pet, and if doing so would reset the cooldown of the power, might be worth testing though...) however, if it has another power, it will use that power. THIS is how you get situations where YOU are using something like Enfeebling Lullaby, but the PET is using Aria of Stasis.

 

In short: The pet doesnt echo the power you're using as you're using it. It *adds* that power you've used to its "move list" (play list? hmm...), which it can use as long as ithas that power it's movelist. If you give it 4 powers, it will fire off those powers as they become available -- it does NOT fire them off to mimic the power YOU are currently using.

 

Edit: Here is the thread (and the post) where Symph was discussed and, more specifically, we talked a bit about the pet. 

 

[Let your experiences guide this choice...]

On 12/15/2022 at 9:56 PM, Sir Myshkin said:

So fellow players, what're your experiences that can help sway me towards another Dominator?

 

I've made it no secret I love Symphony Control. I will say, it's a LOT better on a controller, as it synergizes PHENOMNALLY well with them moreso than the dominator.

 

However. Domination is, as I'm sure most will say, a game changer.

 

Symphony Control by no means NEEDS Domination. Nor does a Symph dom NEED it. However, with it, the mez stacking becomes truly absurd -- once you get the positioning down. Symph/Earth comes to mind as one of the truly heinous control monster's I've had the pleasure to play. It's a close range dom, closer than I'd like, but with the incarnate power that lets you stun any creature that is both immobilized and feared, in combimation with mud pots, and the Reverberant (with how I've slotted it) pet (along with the many tools Earth has at its disposal) mean that when Im in position, that's the end of a mob group. Even AVs are like "Ah, damn, I guess I can't play the game :/. Man, why do the devs let dominators play, theyre so toxic :/". They don't get to play the game either, because everything is either held, feared, sleeping, or stunned...

 

THEN YOU HIT THEM WITH A FUCKING ROCK

Take that level 4 Skulls Slugger!

[How are folks slotting Reverberant?]

On 8/29/2022 at 7:47 AM, laudwic said:

You know, the Symphony Control pet.  I planned to put part of one of the Dominator Archtype sets, but those aren't allowed.  Currently, I've done 4 slots of Expedient Reinforcement to give some Acc and give a 6.25% recharge. 

 

Any other ideas on how to slot this power?   With all of the different types of powers it throws around, I really am at a loss of how to better slot it, especially when slots are at a premium in Dominators and the need to chase recharge wherever you can.  

 

I don't know if I've said it here on the forums, but the reverberant pet's strengths shine most when it has been proc'd the fuck out.

 

Personally, I like to proc it the fuck out for CONTROL rather than damage. Debilitative Action has a proc for a Stun everytime it casts an immobilize power, Unspeakable Terror has the same but for fears, and I believe it's Stupify that has the proc that allows a Stun power to apply an immbolize (and Fortunata Hypnosis has a proc for a Placate that can trigger everytime it casts a sleep if you REALLY want an odd layer of control outside the wheelhouse of most control characters (force placate) which is pretty welcome for teams).

 

Those FOUR happen to be the flavors of your main cones. That's 4 slots, you can go ahead and drop Lockdown +2 in there for when Echoes your AoE Hold. That's a MEAN 5 slot proc beast, since while it's powers are weaker than yours, I'm fairly sure it's procs are NOT. If I recall, the procs have a fixed mag and duration regardless of if you're casting them or the pet is (I havent noticed them be weaker). Now, the reason you do this is because the incarnate power that stuns enemies who are subject to immobilize AND fear, doesn't need them to be fear'd and immo'd by YOU. They just need to meet the criteria of "feared" and "immobilized" for the stun to apply. With this set up, your pet is has a chance to help you keep enemies stunned in perpetuity, either through one of it's enhancement procs, or, by helping you proc your incarnate power. This, combined with domination, means enemies aren't allowed to play the game when you and the reverberant are around. You get on one side, leave the pet on the other, and just sing to eachother and watch as everything in between you two stops functioning.

 

The reason I say proc it out for CONTROL and not say, damage, is because it's damage is... respectable. But the volume of utility found in stacking control effects is more pronounced.

 

But, more importantly than that, MOST of these procs are from sets you, frankly, dont want on your main powers. If you're building for perma dom (as you likely are) then you can't really afford to fit a random disorient proc into, say, Enfeebling Lullaby. That is a power you can get the purple recharge set bonus from for only 5 slots, and as a SLEEP power it's not like you really have much to stick into a hypothetical 6th slot. By giving all these "less desirable" enhancements to the pet, YOU still get to reap their benefits without needing to slot them yourself.

 

My rule of thumb is that any enhancement you think would be fun to have in your rotation but can't find the space for, give it to the pet.

[Let your experiences guide this choice...]

On 1/9/2023 at 11:25 PM, Spaghetti Betty said:

Yup. Mine runs extremely end heavy as well. I have Ageless for when Domination doesn't come back fast enough to keep my blue bar healthy. All Illu powers have huge end cost. All of my toggles up and yeah sometimes I have to hit Ageless.

I like ageless regardless because the CD reduction helps KEEP domination ready to use to help my stamina problems.

On 1/9/2023 at 11:25 PM, Spaghetti Betty said:

Phanty I've found to be wholly useless outside of adding DMG to big targets. He does a really good job of getting himself killed otherwise. Still worth keeping unless you have a really specific build goal in mind IMO.

I like Phanty slotted with KB>KD. He's a reliable source for it, but it does feel like groups I *DON'T* need KD'd, are the ones getting KD'd. Like, more often than not, he'll target the groups I've mez'd already, or, his mini phanty will pull agro from groups i didnt want to mess with yet. It's a 50/50, but on teams he's great! But yeah, I don't take him for the deeps, I'm Ill/Psi and his damage doesnt outstrip mine since Im proc'd out of my fucking gourd (orange number make me heppy)

On 1/9/2023 at 11:25 PM, Spaghetti Betty said:

 

Now that you mention it, yeah, it does feel like that. There is very little control going on (but more than an Illu Controller, funny enough). I even went a step further and just removed Spectral Terror from my build. In my eyes it's just not reliable enough to be worth spending a slot on.

I dunno. Spectral Terror is good for how early you get it, but I do agree, by level 30 or so he's just not the kinda friend you wanna have around? Again, if there's something from set bonuses a person wants I can say that -15% to hit is pretty fucking delish on a Dominator, who tends to have at least 5 powers that'll buff their DEF, so that 15% can go a long way.

 

But yeah, he kinda smelly.

On 1/9/2023 at 11:25 PM, Spaghetti Betty said:

My gameplan with my Dom is drop PA, let the mob gather up, hit Gleam, and clean house. I have Flash for emergency cases but I find I benefit most from keeping fights compact and speedy. The longer the fight drags on, the more danger I'm in.

 

Me too! I call this way of life;

                                                                The Razzle Dazzle

 

 

[What got you into playing Dominators?]

ahem

 

 

 

 

 

 

D O M I N A T I O N

Domination is the closest thing this game (and many other) has come to an "anime power up" mechanic that manages to be engaging, powerful, mechanically sustainable, consistent, but doesn't outshine other methods of play or invalidate other characters. It's a very cool mechanic that helps keep them far and away the most POWERFUL option for CC, but doesnt invalidate the Controller due to Controller's secondaries being widely more useful to a team than Dominator's Assault sets (DPS is nice, but, just about everyone can DPS if they build it hard enough). I love Dominators, because with the click of a button I'm literally twice as powerful as I was a second ago, I'm effectively immune to enemy CC, my endurance is refreshed in case it was low, and this is going to last till the end of most dungeons and CERTAINLY through a boss fight.

 

I got into playing dominators, because I envisioned a character whose psychic ego was so immense that they could shut down other psychics just because they loved themselves more than any psychic could control them.

 

For further illustration...

[The Illusion of a powerset]

8 hours ago, Dragotect said:

Damn, given the responses to my opinions here you would've thought I shoved a stick in their mother's eye or something.

 

My mom happens to BE a dominator thank you very much!

 

Wait a minute...

[The Illusion of a powerset]

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

This, however, just feels par for the course as far as my experience with doms go. They really suck at soloing, teaming, controlling, and DPS until you can get them fully geared with sets.

I'm sorry... what? They... they have the EXACT same controls but doms get higher damage scaling, in the EXACT same mags as controllers get with the exception of Illusion control, which, ironically, GETS MORE CONTROLS THAN THE CONTROLLER. Are you confusing a "support" set for "controls"? Because Force Field doesn't make your controls better.

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

I think extra damage against CCed targets, like controllers get, would go a long way toward making them better for solo play. Or if their first two holds (typically single target immobilize/hold) did 50-100% more damage they would be fine for leveling solo.

They really don't need it, you have more DPS than the controller because your secondary is full of damage dealing moves. Use your actual attacks instead of JUST mezzing. Containment's damage bonus to controlled targets needs to be OBSCENELY high to justify this mentality, we can check the math!

 

To put it in perspective, Mind Control's Dominate power deals roughly 10 damage (a little LESS on controllers, a little MORE on dominators), you get it at level 2. It's your single target hold. You're gonna be using it for forever. A 50% damage buff would give you 15 damage, and a 100% bump would give you 20 damage.

 

Controllers had BETTER be dealing at LEAST 100% more damage to controller targets, because the t1 attack power for doms deals around 10 damage at level 2 as, and they're melee attack (now available at creation) deals around 17 damage, with many of them getting as high as 21. The LOW performers deal around 15 damage.

 

So, a dominator already has access to attacks that deal AS much damage as attacks benefitting from containment's damage boost, assuming that bonus is at minimum *100%* extra damage. If it is, great, they get to deal Dominator damage on controller targets, Dominators can deal it on ANY target. 

 

Not that I would say no to MORE damage on the dominator, they don't need it, but I won't say no to stealing the one thing that lets controllers keep up with their damage.

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

The domination lock down effect, if you can't get it perma, is really only good for locking down AVs on teams otherwise.

Doubling the magnitude of your mez powers isn't "only good" for AVs, because having double the mag is never a bad thing. Not that it matters, because this statement you just made proves your point about them sucking at controls wrong -- controllers struggle to mez AVs, Dominators do not. 

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

The endurance boost simply isn't good enough for solo play as it isn't often enough and is done out of desperation FAR too often against groups of around 5 or risk endurance burnout by number 4.

So... your complaint is that Domination's endurance refresh is used in desperation far too often in solo play, against groups of 5, as you'll burn out around the 4th enemy.

 

So. All classes have the same endurance? And Doms and Controllers have the same END costs on their mez powers. So, if this end drain cost exists on Dominators, than it exists on controllers in the exact same measure, because that's how math works. Except the controller DOESNT get the ability to click a button, double the strength of their controls AND refresh their endurance.

 

What kind of build are you running that you can't kill 4 enemies before your end runs out? The radiation assault's first melee attack deals *MORE* damage than it's equivalent on a *BLASTER*. Have you considered you're just IGNORING your real damage dealing options?

 

Even if this WEREN'T the case (we'll say you don't HAVE domination ready), that's fine, because in SOLO play, you're not meeting groups of 5. Most solo mob packs cap OUT at 4 in most environs. The only reason you'd pull MORE than that is if you deliberately set your team size higher, OR, pulled an extra mob group -- and that's on you. If you can't handle those situations, then don't put yourself in them to begin with.

 

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

Not only that, but I swear just one dominator on a TF adds 5 minutes to the complete time because they AoE immobilize too soon- making all those tighter, more damaging AoEs from blasters/melee 50% less effective- and simply cannot make up the damage lost this way.

Doms and Controller have the same mez's, if a dom AoE immob's a group, a controller is also. They are the exact same, until dominators hit domination, where they become better controllers.

 

Wait. No. This isn't a complaint about dominators, this is a complaint about PLAYERS.

 

Well, the exact same argument applies. If a player has premature mez problems, they have them on all their mez toons. Just do what they do in MSR and remind them to mez responsibly. It's REMARKABLE what problems team communication can solve instead of blaming a class you seem to fundamentally fail to understand.

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

I've only gotten minimal enjoyment out of my more recent dominators by focusing on their secondary set because that's where their damage is.

Ok, so, you DO know the DAMAGE SET is where you GET YOUR DAMAGE? Why... why did you pretend otherwise?

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

Doms, in my opinion, are the absolute worst archetype in the game because everything they do is done better by the other ones.

A mind control controller's Dominate power has a mag of 3 for 15seconds, with a 20% to buff that to a mag of 4.

A dominator in the same position has the same thing, but instead of a 20% to buff the mag by 1, they *DOUBLE IT* from 3 to 6.

 

6 is a bigger number than 4. This numerical superiority not only continues across all their powers, but the divide between the effectiveness becomes greater when you account for things like "Power Up" which boost the effectiveness of your controls, and of course, by the END of the character's build, you can have domination up PERMANENTLY, making this bonus, effectively permanent. I have no idea where this idea that dominators are "worse" at controls comes from. You are, quite literally, TWICE as good as a dom than as a troller.

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

They're either blasters without the burst damage to bring down enemies before enemies bring you down or controllers without the support to survive a battle of attrition.

Empathy will not save a controller where a dominator would have died. Kinetics will not save a controller where a dominator would have died. Your BEST arguments come from the DEBUFF secondaries which make enemies weak enough that they can keep up with domination. Congrats, you need an ENTIRE power set to keep up with an INHERENT CLASS POWER. This mentality works in the REVERSE, you realize that, right? I could complain about how CONTROLLERS are Dominators without the higher mags needed to be effective against tough enemies, or that they're defenders without the support numbers to make their buffs/debuffs worth having on a team OVER a defender?

 

Man, blasters are such shitty scrappers dude, they can't even CRIT, like, wtf??? Devs, please buff blasters, this is insulting, theyre the WORST class in the GAME dude. They're dominators but without the mez, they're sentinels without the debuffs or survivability, theyre defenders without the support! WHO is this class even MADE for, dude? Either buff it, or get rid of it, I swear, every Dr. Aeon's i run gets 30 minutes added to it because these guys will just snipe a mob and pull the whole pod over and get us all killed. Terrible class, give them a rework or soooomething, dude. 

 

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

They simply underperform on every regard while leveling

It sounds to me like you legitimately and fundamentally don't understand the class. Like, somewhere along the way your brain broke. I can sympathize, I also eat chalk, but at least I don't blame Dominators for it.

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

and I've rarely slotted them out with sets because I can't justify the cost to do so when I could have more fun with a factory setting blaster.

Ok, so you like DPS classes more than control classes. That's cool. I don't happen to like blasters, theyre kinda just dominators that die too fast and don't have controls :v)

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

Even worse, they're the only archetype where I'll ever scale back to -1 difficulty simply to reduce the time it takes to get through a mission.

I do that with tankers, does that mean tankers are bad? Or maybe that I'm just bad at clearing with tankers...

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

Essentially, before any other archetype Dominators NEED to be addressed but aren't going to because they're also probably the easiest class to make insanely OP

Well, yeah, I mean, theyre already twice as good as controllers. I can't imagine what they'd need more of, honestly, so how about we just make domination a toggle? So I can, at any time, decide to be the best control class in the game. Ya know, skip building for perma dom, we ALLL know that's where we're goin anyway, right? Let's cut out the middle man, save us all a few million INF.

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

given they're theoretically a control and damage archetype.

Not theoretically, they're quite literally that. Here, see?

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

And on paper that should be a win/win as far as soloing goes,

And they are! It's very hard to die when enemies are subject to all kinds of control effects. It's honestly easier than a blaster solo!

On 12/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Dragotect said:

but in practice they're just masters of nothing.

Ooooooh! That's what's going on here! Ok, I see you, don't worry man, I've got you.

MASTERmind is RIGHT below Dominator, I can see how you'd be confused now. You misclicked! Happens to the best of us.

[How are the new mercenaries? Also, recommended secondaries?]

On 12/27/2022 at 12:04 PM, Aisynia said:

I have always loved mercenaries but stopped playing them a couple years ago. I would like to know how they are now and if its worth it to start in on them again. The update notes said their entire power repertoire was updated, but doesn't explain how. Do we have any idea?

 

Also, what are secondaries that pair well with it?

 

They are much better than they were.

They are still probably the worse set MMs have? But, that doesnt mean they're awful. That just means theyre weaker than Robots. Theyre VERY reliant on their secondary.

For secondaries, I would HIGHLY recommend Force Field, which got a slight change to it as well in the same patch. Cold is also a good choice, but I feel FF has more things that synergize with mercs specifically.

You could also play Mercs/Emp if you really want to feel like nothing's changed

[Scrapper Crits vs. Stalker Crits questions]

4 hours ago, electric_emu said:

When the Scrapper ATO (Critical Strikes) triggers, it gives ALL your attacks a 50% chance to crit for the next 5 or so seconds.  So you slot it into a power, proc it by using that power (as denoted by a big red "Critical Strikes" over your head) and then go to town. 

 

It follows the normal PPM rules, so if you slot it into the right power you have a lot of control over when it triggers but it's not quite as much crit control as Stalkers get.  You're still dealing with a 50% chance to actually crit after it triggers, so if your follow up includes a big ST attack you will occasionally be disappointed.  It is absolutely glorious when using AoEs though.  

 

Ahhhh! Ok, I thought the ATO was that it boosted the attacks crit rate by 50% of the stalker crit rate (50% of 10% for a total of 15%). What you said makes more sense. You have like, basically "build up" amount of time of a coinflip crits.

[The Illusion of a powerset]

17 hours ago, luxlorica said:

Illusion is here for Doms now and I think it stinks. Wow is it terrible.

 

Phantom Army is neutered to the extent that one wonders why it was even included. The time and endurance used to fire it can get you killed but the decoys can’t save you nor do they do any appreciable damage. They are largely a waste of arcanatime and a great way to get even more bad guys targeting you as they completely ignore the decoy smashing them in the face with a boulder to come over and beat you to death.

 

If they are not going to taunt, or be in some other way useful, they should be always up and comparable to imps. Right now they are more comparable to brawl but with a much longer cooldown. And having downtime for such a milquetoast effect is inexcusable.

 

Gleam seems to be hitting pretty reliably. But in doing no damage, it is worthless against those mobs that just ignore your attempts to mezz them. And without the real Phantom Army there is no way to keep them off you so you end up having to run away again, and again, and again. Not to mention a huge endurance cost and a long cool down for very little aid in not dying.

 

Did I say no damage? That’s wrong. It does just enough single digit damage to ensure the mobs can find you with your invis up.

 

Spectral Terror also does a great job at slowly doing nothing. And that works great on a controller with many other ways to stay safe and chip away at a group. If mobs live through the dom terror, they will just come over and beat you to death, and with no way at all to distract them, you are just waiting to die. Or you could run away… again.

 

Its like the whole set is designed to do nothing. Everything in it should be doing damage with the possible exception of Deceive. PA should either be constant companions or they should taunt to make their downtime, and the long chase to shorten that downtime, worth clicking on the icon.

 

Its like they ported the controller playstyle over to dom without any of the safety and in compensation for the loss of that safety, they added a barrel full of nerfs to ensure the new abilities did not become even remotely useful.

 

As if dominator play is supposed to be you running out of instances to save your own life over and over.

 

But that’s just my experience of it.

 

Maybe you have had a more positive encounter with the power set?

 

Does it just need a specific damage secondary such that it can essentially tag along as a dead-weight “primary”?

 

Is it a late bloomer that only becomes useful once you are an incarnate with everything maxed?

 

Am I just an uncultured philistine who lacks the ability to appreciate a set as … “subtle” and Illusion seems to be on dom.

 

What do you think?

 

 

Hello, I'm the CEO of Illusion Control on Dominators. I am the beggar that whined really hard about it, and often enough, that I totally got devs who've had people whining about it for years before I even knew this game existed to make it for me. That's the story of my rise to power, I'm basically Gary Gecko, but for Illusion Control (Dominator Version™️)

Your complaints are valid to your experience, but I would want to know how you're playing the set in general. My personal finding is that it's not very good at actually "controlling" enemies.

 

Like, when I look at a set I like to use Mind Control as the baseline comparison, how that set plays, what it's strengths are, and how it compares to the set I'm currently playing. For me, Illusion Control for doms lacks a lot of "agency" with hits controls. I can't name a single primary on the class that REALLY relies on pets for its controls -- Illusion Control is also lacking in its variety OF controls. You have about as many as Gravity control but not nearly the same utility or damage potential, which is understandable because not all these things should feel the same, but it does leave Illusion Control in a strange spot. Leveling it, is an arduous process. It's main gimmick is "stealth confusion" which is the main gimmick of it's controller counterpart until Phantom Army becomes its gimmick. Gleam is kinda pitiful too, not ONLY does it have a heavy end cost, not ONLY is it's CD as long as Wormhole (Gravity Control) and LONGER than Mass Hypnosis (Mind Control) but it's ALSO got a base accuracy of .80? Like, sure it hits Psychic Defense so it's more accurate than it seems since psy is a "rare" defense, but it's NOT a great power. You rely VERY heavily on Blind (a very GOOD power), Decieve (a very standar power) and Spectral Terror (a very NICHE power) early on, and once you get phantom army going you're very much relying on that despite it being such a painstakingly long CD to rely on, and i feel the lack of a taunt in exchange for MORE attack powers on them wasn't a good call. Not only that, but you're waiting a LONG time for Flash. Controllers get that at level 6, Doms get it at LEVEL 22! You are dead ass nearly halfway through the life of the character before you get an AoE hold.

 

With all that in mind, I will say that Illusion Control feels like the only set designed with "Perma Dom" and "proc monsters" in mind. No other set feels like it NEEDS the kind of global CD building for Perma Dom to be effective, but Illusion Control does. I'm not in the heads of the devs, but i'd argue it's why Gleam has such a painful cool down for such a neglible control effect. The idea is that 1.5 minute CD is going to be reduced by 5 LotGs and Haste, and it's control is going to be buffed perpetually by your Domination before you even touch whatever enhancements you wanna stick in it... which will ideally all be procs so you can turn it into an AoE bomb.

Because once you REACH the world of the "finished build" for Illusion Control it's pretty good, Gleam's long CD becomes a boon in making it a proc monster, and that pitiful damage number is spiked right up, and since once you have domination active the stun is MUCH more reliable. This is true for all your controls, the few of them you DIRECTLY get -- which is why I feel like the set seems weaker, youre controls are MOSTLY coming from your pets, Phantom Army even has a "sleeps" to replace its normal Taunt effects, which should probably be Stuns given how damage focused Doms are (you're liable to break the sleep on ACCIDENT before you even realize it's taken effect).

I feel it's a set that demands a more aggressive and mindful playstyle, not a more passive natural one. My Ill/MA and my Ill/PA doms are very fun to play (the psy assult one is FUNNER to play but that's because Drain Psyche and Subdue are GREAT additions to that help Illusion Control, and Illusion Control is a set that DOES NOT benefit as heavily to Build Up type powers as other Dominator primaries) and I couldnt be more aggressive with them if I tried. I know a LOT of people play Dominators as Controllers (in that they forego ALL melee powers and JUST play controll powers with a few ranged tools) which is fine, but NOT good for this primary, you don't have ENOUGH controls to reliably keep groups on lockdown, so the groups you DO mez NEED to die before you move onto the next one, and more "unnaturally" you REALLY need to choose your targets mindfully.

 

Like, I don't want it to sound like "ur brain is 2 small for this class :v]" because any class that requires mindful target consideration and active aggressive play is a class that will always feel worse than a class that can do anything it wants and everything works out.

Like, on my MC/EA dom, I don't need to care. I can mez anything and everything from a distance, then blast and smash whatever. It's well equipped for whatever situation it finds itself in, everything I do works all the time, everytime, unless the thing im trying to mez is in their "You literally can't mez me, im invulnerable to mez, my anti-mez numbers are so high right now because fuck you solo control class, you should have been a Tanker you stupid idiot lol now die" mode.

 

My Illusion Controll doms can't do that. They have a specific order of operations, they have a specific targeting order I need to play to, they need to use all the tools at their disposal to clear packs as efficiently as they can to make the most of their momentum and they need to constantly maintain that momentum, otherwise it's goign to mean a LOT of boring downtime as we get set up again. I believe this is fundamentally because Illusion Control relies very heavily on its pets who don't see the same buffs you get from Domination, and this comes at the cost of your personal control powers, which in turn costs you the player in the "feel" of the class. Like, you can play a Minc Control dominator and never ever feel "weak'. You don't NEED perma dom, you don't even need enhancements to make that primary feel like it's missing something. I know this because I played a dominator without enhancements and perma dom from 1-50. I can say that about a lot of Dominator primaries. I can not say it about Illusion Control.

 

But, i wouldn't say that means Illusion Control is "bad". Like, Kinetic Melee is bad. Mercenaries are bad. Sonic Blast is bad. These are powersets whose only redeeming qualities are that with enough people their faults won't hold back the group. Illusion Control is more in the realm of Traps or Radiation Emission, where it's a set that's pretty good but requires you to play in a different way to really feel like it's not garbage.

[Scrapper Crits vs. Stalker Crits questions]

Hello, I'm stupid. I like Stalkers because my powers get glowy little rings around them that tell me if I press them, I deal critical damage.

 

I have a couple of scrappers and none of them have that. That's ok, i don't NEED it, but, it does get me thinking about critical frequency between the two. With Stalkers generally having the rule of thumb that "assassination" will give Assassin's strike its critical property after 3 OTHER powers go off (usually. Sometimes not the case, but, most times, it's the case -- i know that by the END of my chains I'm throwing out an Assassin's Strike crit to start the NEXT combo cycle).

Now, from what I've heard about Scrappers, with the ATOs you basically can set yourself up for criticals on demand. I have no idea how that works, im allergic to math. But i'd like to know how that works, because it sounds kinda cool? But like, this raises the question about Damage Caps which apparently exist and that gets me thinkiing like, does the fact a Scrapper can (apparently) crit 3 times in a row on demand even matter?

I don't know these answers, because, I'm stupid. Please help. Thank you.

[Why isn't Brute Energy Melee Awesome?]

3 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Is that the poem about the Holocaust? I swear I've read something similar before. 

Yes, it's originally from, arguably, one of the most famous Holocaust poems, "First They Came for the Jews," written by Martin Niemoller.

[If I had a trillion inf.]

On 12/2/2022 at 6:11 PM, Yomo Kimyata said:

I'd buy you a green dress, but not a real green dress.  That's cruel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Why isn't Brute Energy Melee Awesome?]

On 12/20/2022 at 10:09 AM, Snarky said:

Here is the seed of what this thread is really about. Another excuse to nerf Brutes.  Like any of this games Dev teams needed an excuse.   Random issue update X; List of changes + nerfhammer Brute a bit. 

I for one welcome the opportunity to share my favorite poem...

 

 

First they came for the Brutes
and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Brute.
Then they came for the Brutes
and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Brute.
Then they came for the Brutes
and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Brute.
Then they came for me—
and there was no Brute left
to farm for me

                                                                                                                                                                               - Berny Thorne

[Melee Powerset Comparison]

On 12/8/2022 at 8:53 AM, Ston said:

Lately I've been curious about how melee sets compare to each other across all ATs (except stalker, for now). I've been doing a lot of Trapdoor testing the past 2 years on Homecoming and decided to use it as a benchmark for this test (lots of runs posted on my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkPFdm3IxdIW6PdxApy55ng). After some discussion with Galaxy Brain, I decided to use Willpower for this test as it is the set that has the least impact on your damage output. 

The parameters for this test are as follows:

- "Track Down Trapdoor" mission set at +4/x8
    - Best two times recorded for each build (using the top two times and throwing out the others to account for getting better with the powerset with more practice)
- Inspirations allowed: Oranges, Blues, Greens (Choosing to ignore survivability and just test the damage output from melee sets. Using these inspirations will keep me alive but still allow me to be debuffed, unlike purple inspirations)
- Standard build:
    - Identical choices & slotting for all Willpower and pool powers
    - 90% recharge resistances on all builds
- Same Incarnate powers:
    - Tankers/Scrappers: Musc Radial, Reactive Radial, Ageless Core, Assault (Passive)
    - Brutes: Vigor Core, Reactive Radial, Ageless Core, Assault (Passive) (Brutes benefit more from endurance/accuracy enhancements)
 

Results:

Melee_Test.xlsx

 

 

 

 

***Disclaimers***
- I don't claim these are the best way to build these combos. My goal for this test was to get a baseline for performance across melee ATs using my personal playstyle. Open to any suggestions or feedback on how to improve these results! 
- Some builds may not be correct, please send me a message and I will fix them. 

***Note***
- Willpower has the weakest taunt aura of any Scrapper set. This will cause Scrapper times to be lower than Bio/Rad/Shield relative to their Tanker/Brute counterparts. I think this is a good thing since not all Scrapper secondaries get a taunt aura. Willpower ends up being a nice benchmark between taunt aura and no taunt aura.

 

Discord: @Ston#0707

 

This is an awful lot of work just to say why we need super strength on scrappers, but I'm here for it!

[Beginner ATs and Power Sets?]

On 12/5/2022 at 1:08 AM, Breidr said:

TL:DR in Bold at Bottom 

 

I played this game from 2007-2012ish and I remember it fondly as one of my favorite games. I could never stick with the other games my friends were playing. WoW wasn't "bad," but I was I wanted to do more group content, and outside of dungeons, never happened, and I never really wanted to level. 

 

I loved the design of CoH. Grouping happen a lot more. Doors removed some of the dull over world questing. Was it perfect, no.  Was it more fun for me, yes. 

 

I was actually drawn into the game because a friend of my Dad played it with his family. Dad said they were like the Incredibles.

 

We grabbed the games made our duo, and we were off. Neither of us knew anything about builds, but we had a blast together. I was a Scrapper, he was a blaster. 

 

I'm glad to see it's. back, but just like then, I have no idea what I'm doing. I want to make a few toons and just chill out and do arcs, without dragging others down. In the past that was */Willpower, with no idea how to slot anything. 

 

I'm trying to convince some friends (and my dad again) to come back with me. 

 

With all that said, what are some good starting points for someone who has never really been able to come to grips with building characters in MMOs, like, ever?  I'm really clueless when it comes to that. Probably because my brain is broken, and I mean that.

 

Bonus points if the build reduces key binds and is forgiving when it comes to slow reflexes.

 

So, I'll make a lil list for you on what i think is the most beginer friendly and low maitance to an intermediate level of those things, because I was where you were like, just over a year ago.

Class and Combos for "Help I'm baby and allergic to math" people (me)

• Sentinel (primaries)

Since they're recent rework, sentinels are now, to my mind, the easiet class to figure out and play for any newcomer to both Homecoming and MMOs like it in general. They don't have very complicated mechanics, theyre tanky enough to enjoy solo play without foregoing team benefits, theyre a ranged character so very few enemies will prove to be obstacles and they're very easy to roleplay and flavor to whatever themes you'd like. I will outline what I feel to be the e

• Radiation Blast

I feel this is the most beginner friendly primary any ranged class has to offer as it can teach you a lot about the various mechanics of the game without you having to "learn" them. It's just a useful primary set that employs a consistent and valuable debuff to enemies it hits and does so without any weird gimics. You press your attack button, you shoot a laser beam, and from now that guy is easier to hit for you and everyone else.

• Fire Blast

Much like Rad, Fire is easier than cereal. Hit the button, fire come out. Fire hurts. Fire KEEPS hurting. Click button. Fire hurts. Click button until nothing click to click button on. 

• Beam Rifle

Beam Rifle is, to my mind, the best ranged set Sentinels have to offer. It's gimmick is called "Disintergrate" and what it does it applies a DoT (damage over time) to targets, which can occasionally 'spread' to nearby enemies. The Disintergrate power automatically applies it, so you don't need to worry about it too much. If you DELIBERATELY manage it, you'll see a significant boost to your DPS, but, it's something that happens so naturally you can legitimately roll your face across your keyboard and it'll work out just fine. 

• Sonic Blast

Sonic Blast isn't great. Recent changes to how Sonic Blast functions had made it more or less a waste of time, due to its benefits being marginal, compared to its downsides.

 

But, as far as blast sets go, it's a good entry point for status effects, and positioning. It has knocks, a sleep, a couple of stuns, and plenty of cones. While the set overall is pretty weak IMO, if a person is looking to learn other mechanics, or seeking MORE from a set besides "click button, deal damage", this is for them.

 

• Sentinel (secondaries)

Most armor sets in the game (see, all but Regeneration) are at least somewhat based on toggle powers, so, while each set has a LOT of powers, theyre powers you only have to clikc ONCE and stay on until something happens to turn them off. So while there's no way around that, there's some that are easier to handle than others.

• Invulnerability

Who'da thunk a set that shipped with the game way back in the stoneage could and would be super easy to use (and effective). Like all armor sets, Invul has lots of toggle powers. But, that's ok, because once you turn them on only a handful of things turn them off! And, Invul has a lot of passives, so you don't even need to worry about that too much. It's a resist set, so you may need healing, but that's ok because you HAVE the ability to heal yourself! Just drop your toggles on one bar, your actives on another, and you'll be fine.

• Super Reflexes

This is an even simpler set than Invul in many ways. It's a defense set, so instead of REDUCING the damage you take, you instead just DONT take damage. The reason why SR is rough is because if you DO take damage, it HURTS, and unlike Invuln you can't just heal yourself up. It's ok though. You'll be fine. You'll reach a point where it's basically a coinflip if you're gonna get hit or not, and you can take those odds! You're lucky, you gambler, you!

• Energy Aura

Energy Aura, to my mind, is the best Sentinel secondary. It's got resistences, it's got Defense, it's got a heal, it's got an End heal, it's got a perma boost to your max HP! It's got it allllll baby, in such a sexy package too. It's hard not to love, but, it has more words and numbers than some of its siblings? So maybe not the best for newcombers who don't really get the IDEA of how MMORPGS really work (as in, like, "I play call of duty and only call of duty, what the FUCK is a "def" and why doesnt it come in Tiger camo?" kinds of people).

• Bio Armor

Bio armor is really strong. Bio armor does it all. Bio armor is not beginer friendly, and it is NOT user friendly. It is one of the more active sets, especially on sentinel. But, it's very strong once it's built. If you or someone you know LIKES building characters, dangle bio armor over their head like "this could be allllll yours once you learn what all these silly words meeeean~" and there you go.

 

 

Next up...

 

• Tankers

Tankers are the quintessential class for new players. There's a reason why the guy on the box is a tanker. There's a reason why most people have a tanker. There's a reason why most of the community leader's main toon is a tanker. Tankers are the main character class. You hit guys, and if they hit you back they either dont hit you, or, they dont hit you hard enough for you to care. Their only real downside is a lack of damage, but on teams this small limitation is mitigated entirely (even on a team of all tankers). The ONLY reason I say they arent as beginner friendly as Sentinels is that they are a melee class. They VERY rarely get any meaningful ranged powers unless they dip into power pools, tertiaries, or patron pools and half those dont come around for a while.

 

• Tanker (secondaries)

Ranking Tanker primaries is hard, since they're so many and honestly, most of them are good. Some are really good. Let's talk about those...

• Titan Weapons

Some people might not say TW is beginner friendly. It has the "momentum" mechanic, which IS a mechanic that means that could, if you so chose, enable you to fall into a rythmic attack pattern. Or, you could do what all TW users do (especially me) and just mash your face on the numpad until everything around you is dead. Here's an instructional video.

I rest my case.

 

• Energy Melee

A very straightforward set with absurd damage potential. That's it.

• Stone Melee and Super Strength

You're strong. But like, REALLY strong? Strong enough to rip a rock out of the ground and throw it at an airplane, making it one of the few tanker sets that gets a ranged attack that's worth using... But it's NOT super strength. It's super strength, but better! But, ya know, if you DONT like the rocks, you can also use super strength. Theyre both very simple and fairly comparable.

• Street Justice

Stree Justice is really good. It's stylish, and it plays into Tankers having bigger AoEs than the other melee classes, since you get a couple of those things that're really nice, and get nice the more your combo meter goes up. Problem with this is that you have this combo meter thing? That's more work than just face rolling more my tastes, so, take it with a grain of salt.

 

• Tanker (primaries)

I totally forgot tanker primaries are armors! So, i had to put it second. My brain is soft and smooth, like peanut butter.

 

• Invuln

It's like Sentinels, but better!

• Super Reflexes

It's like Sentinels, but better!

• Shield Defense

Finally not a repeat! Shield Defense is really easy. It's a lot of toggles, which makes it pretty end hungry? But that's ok, you get a shield! That's 100% more style than any armor set that DOESNT get a shield. If the charge power is too intimidating, that's ok! You don't need it to be unstobable.

• Stone Armor

It's stone armor. I'm pretty sure this is SO good it is THE go-to AFK farm set. It's pretty straight forward too, with the only downside being that you can't fly while it's on.

 

That's ok. You're god now. God doesnt need to fly. What're they gonna do? Kill you? Pfft. Phat chance.

[What have you paired Street Justice with?]

Bio Armor

BIO ARMOR

BIO ARMOR

 

 

 

B I O     A R M O R

I like offensive adaptation...

[So my girlfriend wants to roll up a Mass Effect inspired character...]

On 11/30/2022 at 9:47 PM, Six-Six said:

If I were you, I'd break up with her and get one that digs knives and brawling. 

😉

 

Ah, at long last, a man who Six Slots [Brawl], finally. A true intellectual.

[So my girlfriend wants to roll up a Mass Effect inspired character...]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:41 PM, lokiie1984 said:

But she's not sure on which archetype and powers to pick besides the dual pistol (but open to others too.) The issue is she also wants to use Biotics, which to me sounds like energy blast but you cant really do energy and dual pistols. 

 

Anyone have any ideas? Even if it's through the use of epic power pools. When it comes to the epic pools, I'm not really sure what's all available for each archetype. 

 

Depends. Mass Effect (the good ones) make you choose between being a biotic god, and being a soldier boi. Biotics come in a variety of flavors, three specifically. Adept, Sentinel (heh), and Vanguard(heh heh).

 

Adept:

 

Gravity Control/Force Field Controller - A Grav/FF controller is literally the build I uased for my Liara expy, it's good stuff. No powerset is as versatile as biotics are, but Grav has just about everything on the usual biotic power list. Throw, lift, stasis... it even has a sort of "combo" with Gravity Distortion in the same vein as biotic combos (sans the biotic explosion). Forcefield is a bit of stretch, but, Mass Effect 2 says biotics can make big biotic bubbles, so, here you go. It also comes with a couple of "biotic" powers of its own.

 

Gravity/Time Controller - This is the same thing, but a generally more active character with combo mechanics (time has this thing where you can apply a status to enemies and allies that enhances your buffs and debuffs on them respectively)

 

Gravity/Dark Miasma Controller - This is like the other two, but focuses on debuffs rather than support. Just ignore the dog summon (if you want, maybe she likes dogs, I wouldn't know, she's your girlfriend not mine yet.)

 

EDIT: Gravity/Radiation Emission Controller - I often forget Radiation Emission exists due to it's focus on toggles? But, in experimenting with VFX and trying to match the mechanics of biotics? It fits REALLY well visually and thematically, since mostly likely, the only time itll see it's maximum usefulness is on small, or especially coordinated teams (or solo).

 

Vanguard (heh heh):

 

Gravity Control/Energy Assault Dominator - If you wanna knock fools around with your space magic, then punch them in the face with your space magician hands, this is what you wanna do. Combine with Combat Teleport for your "biotic charge" and watch as you dunk on the universe. 

 

Psi Blast/Energy Manipulation Blaster - For a version with more Ranged DPS and less control, this offers the same thing, but with less control and more mind bullets. As it so happens this is also probably a considerably more powerful character if she cares about such things. You'll want to maybe learn how to B L A P P E R from the B L A P P E R gods, since she's gonna wanna be at range AND in melee. Take combat teleport.

 

Beam Rifle/Energy Manipulation Blaster - As above, but you get a laser gun instead of mind bullets. Combat teleport.

 

Psi Melee/Bio Armor Brute OR Bio Armor/ Psi Melee Tanker - If she liked being a melee beast as a biotic, here's that. The former is more damage focused, the latter is probably one of the best characters in the game (IMO don't bully me metalords im just baby). COOMBAT TELEPOORT

 

Sentinel (heh):

Beam Rifle/Dark Miasma Corruptor OR Dark Miasma/Beam Rifle Defender - It's a laser gun, and warp. Tech, and biotics. It's more than the sentinel ever got in Mass Effect. The former does damage, the latter is loved by all for the HUUUUGE debuffs (maybe not the bad guys, they might not love u, but is ok, u have a girlfriend 4 dat)

 

Elec Affinity/Dark Blast Defender OR Dark Blast/Elec Affinity Corruptor - Elec Affinity... KINDA has armor? Kinda? Faraday Cage is real real good, insulating circuit is absorbtion on demand... I 'unno dude. It's overload and warp on one character, I'm trying my best. Pick the defender for the big support numbers, pick Corruptor if you like bigger per hit damage.

Beam Rifle OR Duel Pistols/Bio Armor Sentinel - It's a shooty blam blamm person, but, they have weird armor that they summon over their normal clothes! Bio Armor also comes with some powers that could be flavored as biotics... and if you go DP you get ammo changing? And you could flavor standard rounds as Warp Ammo? Kinda? Still, Bio Armor functions quite similarly to tech armor, so there you go I guess.

 

Beam Rifle OR Duel Pistols/Energy Aura - Same as above, but it's literally armor made out of energy.