[General Chat is an open sewer.]

In my experience there are only two types of people who argue on the internet:

1. People who believe their opinions matter enough to inflict them on others
2. People who enjoy trolling and getting a rise out of others

You will never change the minds of the former, and you will never change the behavior of the latter. Learn to identify those who debate in good faith versus those that just want to inflict themselves on others. And don’t bother asking someone else to intervene, because these people are cockroaches drawn to the dirtiest corners of public discourse. Just keep yourself out of the filth and you’ll see a lot less of them. 🙂

[Best AT for a soloist starting with nothing?]

3 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

Oh radiation blasts? Stone armor.

 

"Candice Jones was a mild-mannered scientist at Wonka's Chocolate Factory until the day the particle accelerator she was using to unlock the secrets of Quantum Flavor^tm exploded - dosing her with powerful irradiated sugar crystals and delicious, long-lasting elemental flavor. In that fateful moment a new hero was born: ROCK CANDY - slayer of evil, poor taste, and OSHA violations!"

 

3 hours ago, Sovera said:

Oh you've got two guns you're firing akimbo? You're encased in stone.

 

"When adult film star Rock Hardshaft was sold a bag of crack laced with the deadly CHEMICAL X the resulting high broke his mind, but encased his body in impervious Cracktanium^tm Alloy! With his dealer's twin silver-plated .45s, a chip on his shoulder, and a stalagmite in his pants, he swore to take over the city as its newest villain: ROCK HARD! Beware doers of wrongdoing! You have stiff competition from a man who is always "up" for a little mischief!"

 

[Best AT for a soloist starting with nothing?]

2 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

Wait, nvm, you speak of Sentinels. Then it's Bio all the way. The only reason not to go Bio is if you absolutely hate the aesthetics, otherwise it's sturdy AND increases damage AND has a heal AND has an endurance tool.

 

One you didn't mention is Stone Armour. Also zero clicks, very strong defenses AND resistances, comes with built-in recharge, a damage boost, regeneration (instead of a heal) and recovery (instead of an endurance clicky). That's the second best in my opinion. It only sins for being hefty in endurance demands due to being so toggle heavy.

 

Only reason I skipped those is that I tend to favor powers that don't lean heavily into a visual that defines the character. If I have a thematic idea for a character that uses stone (or fire, or water/ice, dark, etc) then it's usually a pretty straightforward choice to consider power options. But good to know they're solid sets if the theme fits.

 

Okay! I really appreciate everyone's awesome feedback. Now I need to come up with a hero idea, and find where they land in theme and powerset. See you in Atlas Park!

[Best AT for a soloist starting with nothing?]

34 minutes ago, Ironblade said:

 

Well, I would definitely try a sentinel, then.

This is where I’ve pretty much landed, as it both feels like a good fit for my play style and is also the only AT (other than VEATs) that didn’t exist when I was playing prior. (Although I’m already thinking about alts, as is the way.)

 

Question for you (or anyone reading): given I won’t have optimal slotting AND I like not micromanaging my defenses would you have an opinion between SR, WP, and Regen?
 

All three look like they’ve been well adapted to Sentinels, and all three look like they’re fairly sturdy with minimal investment and low levels of “clickiness”. I’m not sure how much my primary sways my secondary choice; at a glance it seems like the synergies are more “nice to have” than “if you take A, you should really take B”.

[Best AT for a soloist starting with nothing?]

7 minutes ago, ZemX said:

 

Not that this can't be fun too.  You dive head first into a group, and don't die, and then.. you keep doing it.  You lead the team around.  

 

My first main in Live was an Inv/EM Tanker. I actually really enjoy tanking in MMOs - it's my preferred role. I strongly suspect that I will eventually roll a Tanker (or Brute) even if it's not my first character, if only because I like diving headfirst into fights and keeping groups alive while I round up mobs for them to blast.

 

Hmm. My initial resistance to rolling a Tanker was mostly due to how slow they were to level back on Live (low damage). But since they've gotten a big buff on HC maybe I'll reconsider. (I was leaning to Sentinel, but maybe I'll look at Tanks and see what's what.)

[Best AT for a soloist starting with nothing?]

49 minutes ago, Ironblade said:

After that, I would ask about your play style.  Do you prefer ranged combat?  Is maximum damage output your goal?  In this game, you can easily solo with a defender; it's just slower.

I’m play style agnostic enough that I’m flexible. Maybe a slight preference for range only because in my distant memory I recall hating having to chase mobs, but that’s solvable with sufficient mobility. (And it looks like at a minimum we now get the Fitness pool for free, so that’s good.)

[Best AT for a soloist starting with nothing?]

56 minutes ago, drbuzzard said:

If you're talking dirt poor, a super reflexes tank is pretty hard to beat. Combine it with dark melee and you'll have a heal and endurance recovery.

Definitely was one of the builds I was considering. I had a DM/SR Scrapper back in the day, and while he wasn’t my favorite character I appreciated how well the various powers worked together.

 

36 minutes ago, Captain Fabulous said:

I vote for Stalker. They are incredibly strong and flexible, especially at lower levels. And the built in stealth is super useful for traversing thru zones without getting ganked and speeding thru missions if you don't want to clear them.

Interesting! One of the only ATs I never really explored back in Live. I always felt like stealth was too gimmicky (I had a Fire/Dev Blaster and I swear everything could see through my stealth field), but I’ll definitely skim through the Stalker forum to see what’s what.

 

20 minutes ago, Snarky said:

There is a post at the top of Sentinel boards that details (in great detail) all the powersets for Sentinels if you choose to look at that

Good tip. I was eyeing Beam Rifle as it didn’t exist back when I was playing, but it’ll help to get the Sentinel-eye view on all of them. (Especially since it seems the Sentinel version can vary slightly from other ATs.)

[Best AT for a soloist starting with nothing?]

Hello Homecoming people! I only recently found out that CoH has been alive and well for ~5 years now, and am excited to dip my toes back into a game I don't think I've played since... Issue 10?

 

As a fresh newbie I'll be starting with a completely blank account, and while I'm not opposed to opportunistic grouping at heart I just enjoy the solo journey. I've been researching builds and ATs for the last few days and... so much of what I'm finding is either 3+ years old, or assumes you're building a new character with millions of Influence laying around to kit them out.

 

So I'm hoping you experts and vets might advise an old dog on some new tricks? Specifically, I'm looking for advice on an AT that provides:

 

1. The tools needed to solo most/all of the game's 1-50 content. (Obviously the end game assumes extensive farming for the right gear, but by then I'll remember everything I've forgotten over the past ~17 years.)
2. A reasonably smooth leveling curve without excessive need for sugar daddy slotting.

 

At a guess I suspect the answer is probably either the new Sentinel AT, or a Brute, but I'm curious to hear if there's an edge case out there worth exploring. (I recall Ill/Rad or Ill/Kin Controllers being sneakily one of the most powerful and easy ATs in the game if you didn't mind the slower pace, but not sure if that's still true anymore.) I can experiment with the powersets to find the one that feels right for me, but would like to at least narrow my search within an AT(s) that aren't going to leave me hanging on my way to 50.

 

(And just to be clear: I'm definitely not looking for Influence handouts. Weirdly enough I genuinely enjoy the "starting with nothing" experience.)

 

Thanks in advance! Also - if my Google-fu was weak and this has been answered elsewhere please feel free to point me wherever.