MDLittle

I've always wondered why there was no Buff/Debuff Primary and Melee Secondary AT..., So the Rebirth Server actual made such an AT...well, kind of like that idea. The Protector - a Melee Primary, Buff/Debuff Secondary AT. Here's my critique, and bare with me because it's going to be a very loose evaluation since I'm not going to be providing hard number data and whatnot. Firstly, there are three AT's that already have Melee as their primary power set - Brutes, Scrappers and Stalkers. Another AT whose primary is melee didn't seem to gel all that well, especially since (in my honest opinion) the AT would generally be considered a support class, much like a Defender. Certainly, they could bring the pain...but what really make them shine is their ability to buff/debuff. Thus, it felt like it'd make more sense to make their primary power set buff/debuff instead of melee. Secondly, the melee power sets they used were based on the Scrapper melee power sets including critical hit capacity. Again, to me, this felt kind of wrong. Tanker secondary (melee) power sets were revamped recently in HC and would work well with the concept of having a melee as a secondary power set. It could be argued that the Brute primary power sets could be used as the secondary melee power sets for this AT, if only just to gain access to melee aoe attacks sooner in some cases. As a Protector has access to said melee power sets, they also had Taunt...and here's where the problems begin. While certainly, a Protector is a beefier Defender...the Protector suffers the same problem as a Defender. The only defenses they have are what's available through their buff/debuff power set as well as whatever secondary effects they can muster through their melee power sets. Placate or Challenge might be better for the Protector because firing off an aoe buff/debuff/heal is Taunt enough, Overall, it was a fun AT to play. You could make a Broadsword/Radiation Emission space faring Paladin of sorts. I found Kinetics/Kinetic Melee had some wonderful synergy (the aoe toggle KB made melee combat a breeze in most cases). My personal favorite was War Mace/Thermal Radiation (The Heirophant). Other than the changes I suggested above, I think it's a pretty solid AT with a lot of variety and utility. It gives some of the buff/debuff/heals that are either pbaoe or targeted aoe to be more effectively used in some melee centric groups. Anywho, just my ramblings/observations. Ciao!

Ah Virtue...where I converted Thunder-Puncher from the pen and paper medium over to a digital mmo...and somehow got it to work almost exactly how I had imagined him to be in game. The flexibility and diversity of the game engine (even back during live) kept my orbital interest long after shutdown...gleaning for the possibility that somewhere, out there, there was still a city - a city of heroes. There is something to be said about keeping the faith - don't stop believing. Hello Virtue, Paragonian Knights, Grae Knight and Lady Grae. Guess TP finally made it back home. 😄

Tested it on Brainstorm, didn't really find anything wrong with it. Liked the animation change for Chain Lightning. A Storm Caster/Storm Summoner Defender is an absolute beast. You literally have "Wind Control" with those two powersets - Gale, Freezing Rain, Tornado, Hurricane, Gust, Jet Stream, Storm Cell, Category Five. If you need more wind powers than that, go pick up Whirlwind from Speed. The point being, I'd hate to see the developers waste any of their time creating a 'Wind Control' powerset when it's essentially already present (once Storm Caster hits). Wanting a more control clearly doesn't understand wind...it's not something that controls, it's something that blows stuff away. At best, 'Wind Control' would be a 'soft control' powerset which both Storm Summoning and Storm Caster emulates excellently. Haven't tried a Blaster or Sentinel, though I imagine a Corruptor plays similarly to a Defender. As far as a Defender goes, Storm Caster is in a real sweet spot...hope what's currently present goes live. I've already got a 50 slotted for a remake. 🙂

I just managed to get my Illusion/Poison Controller to 50 on Excelsior, but I lean more on Illusion than Poison. Being a 'wizard', he only uses potions so he lobs a lot of vials around (Alkaloid, Antidote and Elixir of Life). I'm sure if I picked up Envenom, fights would go a whole lot quicker since Illusion Control packs such a wallop but he's not a min-max build. Illusion is handy if you don't like getting hit, and Spectral Terror does a nice job at tanking a mobs ToHit chance, stay within the protective radius of your howling specter and you should be alright (for the mostpart). Phantom Army and Phantasm are great for just making a mess of things. Sure, they do knockback from time-to-time but it's hard to be disappointed with three additional targets (five with Phantasm and it's Decoy), three of which (four with Phantasm's Decoy) are totally impervious to harm. I have had my Phantasm peel aggro off me when I back off and stop being so aggressive so you kind of get your own personal tank. Unfortunately, you can't directly control any of them (not like a Mastermind) so you have to be mindful of your pets for personal safety reasons (not theirs). Get used to dismissing your pets in order to keep the chance of random aggro from happening. Deceive is a literal life-saver. Angry mob in your grill? Deceive and they leave you alone. Angry mob on your buddy? Deceive and they leave them alone. Special mob buffing enemy mobs? Deceive and it will now start buffing/healing you (and your party). Illusion Control is fun. 🙂

I'll echo the sentiment...if the game's 'too easy' for you, then why are you travelling in a group at all? Crank it to +4/x8 with Elite/AV options enabled and go solo a few missions for a right heaping dose of humility. 🙂 Regarding the OP, having played a few controllers, caging mobs before they cluster has been a standard practice for me when solo or in a group with no tanker/scrapper/brute/sentinel as it keeps the mob slightly dispersed limiting their capacity to engage in melee (which can mean a death sentence for the controller, assuming they're not already shot to pieces (ah, the lowbie life of a controller). Now, at later levels I tend to hold off on caging until there's a sizeable cluster to use it on...or I use it on another mob that's close by if the main body's having issues with the current mob to keep their ability to engage limited to range. It may seem like I'm spamming senseless, but in truth - I'm trying to keep the tanker/scrapper/brute/sentinel alive.

I"m finding my Earth/Nature/Earth Controller to be -VERY- trolly (pratically a tank in some regards)...especially having the ability to soak damage leaving time to lay on ST holds on bosses and position Earthquake to maximize KD potential. Just hit 50, started getting incarnates, haven't even started IO'ing yet but have made a few builds on MIDS and if it's accurate...she's going to be a monster, a literal monster (Wild Growth + Wild Bastion + Earth's Embrace + Rune of Protection = What, me worry?)

Maybe I'm just an old hat to this particular game, but I'm -VERY- leery of some of the suggestions posited...especially regarding TK. I'm my observations of powersets in general, I've noted how general and broad in scope the powersets tend to be (for the most part). In testing well over a few hundred characters, I've found that you can generally acquire roughly two or so powers from the primary and still accomplish whatever task at hand while maintaining a strong theme regarding said character. For example: a mind controller who doesn't actually have any mind controlling ability at all save for the ability to influence the world via telekinesis - this is adequately represented via Lift and Telekinesis. I don't mind the alterations suggested, I personally would -LOVE- to see some sort of vector control as I know melee characters would love if TK repelled TOWARD the caster or Lift knocked towards the player instead of up. However, removing TK entirely is something I'm adamantly against because it's an astoundingly powerful ability, especially in the hand of a controller that knows how to use it. Please don't dumb down Mind Controllers...for those who don't like TK, you'd probably be more happy playing a Psychic Blast Defender.

I think one thing that is forgotten when it comes to aggro management is how mobs react to aggro. AT's all have a certain threat rating which determines how the mobs react to a group when they come within aggro range. This initially threat rating is altered in accordance to how they are influenced by other AT's - damage, debuff, taunt. The effects a player stacks on a target ultimately adjusts their aggro in accordance to how strongly they're effected. This is why a blaster will inevitably peel aggro off a tank no matter how desperately they taunt and punchvoke...in certain instances, there's no tanker that can maintain aggro consistently with a blaster hell bent on destroying the opposition - the blaster simply outpaces the tanker's aggro generation and low damaging attacks. Can a sentinel acquire and maintain aggro? That depends on how serious they are about keeping the attention on them. Remember, the sentinels primary is ranged attack - not defense, and while ranged attack damage is generally less than melee damage...tankers melee damage is their secondary, so a sentinel should be able to maintain consistent damage output on par with a tanker. With that in mind, coupled together with provoke from the presence power pool and generous application of consistent damage output - a sentinel has the capacity to tank. Certainly, there will be a straggler or two...so blast those stragglers, either get their attention back on you or put them down. With that said, tanking is very doable with a sentinel (tankers just don't like to hear it...). I guess what's important regarding taunting in general is that it's temporary aggro, kind of like damage that's forgotten about unless consistently maintained which tankers, admittedly, are quite good at. However, in thinking aggro as damage, damage doesn't go away (healed overtime, yes, but not fade anywhere near as fast as taunting). Also note that taunting operates in accordance to type - autohits tend to aggro less than taunt types that require a tohit and aoes tend to be less effective than single target (at least from my experience). Keep this in mind when deciding when and how you want to manage aggro...when to taunt and when to attack, etc. Do note that tankers are exactly the best aggro generating AT - a blaster with provoke would be almost impossible to peel from... ...except when they faceplant. 😕

Sell you on Sentinels? Okay, you can make Iron Man (Technology Energy Blast/Invulnerabilty Sentinel). 'Nuff said.

Collapsing through a portal, breathing laboriously and wiping his brow, a robed and cloaked man stands and surveys his environment. After a lingering pause, Nythaniel Hawthorne...also known as Doc Phantasm grins with a sigh and says under his breath, "Finally...home."