Vedic70

Okay, so this is not an impression of what HEATs and VEATs are like at endgame as I have no idea about endgame (my highest level characters are lvl 47 (Necro/Dark MM) and a level 41 Night Widow) but just my new player impressions of what it was like getting the XEATs up to mid levels. I'm also new to CoH (three months or so of playing with no prior experience), don't have rich alts and have only been equipping with what I could get by buying special salvage with reward merits and selling them on the AH so, if you're also new, the circumstances of my experience would be similar to yours. Also, with the exception of a Death From Below run once for each of the Kheldian archetypes, I soloed all of the XEATs to at least level 24. The first thing to note is that, overall, the experience is pretty painful. You're less effective than a straight out archetype soloing and it shows. From least painful to most painful my experience was: 1. Arachnos soldier 2. Peacebringer 3. War shade; and 4. Blood Widow. After Arachnos Soldier it was a steep fall-off for me. The reason why is because Arachnos Soldier has Wide Area Web Grenade and ranged attacks (especially Heavy Burst). Peacebringer and War shade were pretty painful with Peacebringer having a more reliable self heal with Dwarf form than War shade. Blood Widow was like putting bamboo shards under my fingertips at times due to the single target no stealth melee (and mediocre melee) damage at low levels. However, it gets much better. For example, I found Night Widow to be my favourite playstyle as soon as I hit levels 24 to 26. Things die fast, you feel like you can actually handle mobs and, if you like stalker, it feels smoother to me since there isn't a wind up time for my hardest hitting attack from stealth. For the Kheldians, they were also super painful until level 20 (when they get Dwarf form) because of Quantum Gunners. If you've ever read 'I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream' the hate that AE feels is comparable to the hate I had of Quantum Gunners until I had Dwarf form. Then they became more manageable. After level 20 I find both archetypes comparable in fun with Peacebringer being more consistent with healing and survivability at mid levels but Warshades can hold a target and blow up corpses. After leveling up to 20 one of my favourite things with my Warshade is to hold Quantum Gunners, use them as a target dummy, and then blow up their corpse. No, I'm not salty at all. Arachnos Soldier gives a big bump at lvl 24 (I went Crab myself) but, honestly, it was already head and shoulders above the other three to begin with although my personal preference is for my Night Widow after level 24. For solo levelling I found the following Power Pools to really help: 1. Kheldians: Concealment. Why? To sneak up on Quantum Gunners and scout where they are so a missed one doesn't make you faceplant right away. From what I've read I'll need the extra DEF powers for a LOTG anyway once I can get Light Form, etc 2. Blood Widows: Fighting. I respecced out of it as Night Widow as I didn't need anything from there and Night Widow has some really good powers but, as a Blood Widow, my attacks felt weak and my defenses almost non-existent. Fighting provided some defense and some very necessary crowd control. 3. My Arachnos Soldier didn't really need anything but I took Field Medic to cut down on my downtime anyway. And, for all of course, Hasten. Hasten makes a huge difference. For the design I find the HEATs kind of odd. I love shape shifting classes in other games but I kind of struggle figuring out what the HEATs bring here. For the VEATs I can, with Maneuvers and Assault from Leadership, bring +30% damage, extra ToHit and enough group DEF to make sure everyone should be soft capped with positionals at higher levels but I don't see what HEATs bring to a group. Sure, the group makes the HEATs stronger at a role but the HEAT doesn't bring anything to the other members. If you're planning for task forces I can definitely see why a VEAT is a great offensive support but I don't see what the HEAT brings. I understand they're being looked at so hopefully that's taken into account and there is a group friendly change to help give them a niche. As well, HEATs need more work to set up as one of the things you'll want to do is set up and keybind a macro to shift forms at a moment's notice. The VEATs require less prep. If you're also a newbie I would say try the XEATs until mid 20s to decide if you like them or not. And, unless you're a masochist, I would suggest grouping up to get to those levels instead of soloing. A group takes care of a lot of the issues I mentioned above. Anyway, I hope you found the above helpful and good luck to you with your XEATs.

For a more unusual but thematic combo I have a Praetorian Shield Defense/Psionic Melee (with Fighting power pool). Praetoria has a lot of psionic mobs (eg the Syndicate) so that implies that psionic powers can also come from training. I wouldn't consider it thematic with a Primal character but I think it fits a highly trained Praetorian concept. I have a Bio Armor/Spines as well whose concept is a person who was experimented and genetically modified for the theme so that fits with yours. I'm pretty much the same for all of your pairings but I'd also pair Titan Weapons with Invulnerability (same type of theme as Super Strength) and, for a specific concept, Ice Armor with Titan Weapons as well (Frost Giant type concept). Earth and Fire would pair with that as well for a giant type character concept.

Hi, I'm working on a concept for a Tanker that has the following possibilities for power sets a) Shield Defence b) Super Reflexes; or c) Willpower. Which of those are the most fun while also being viable (I'm not concerned about min max levels of optimal but a power that can't do the job because it's too weak isn't fun either)? What are the pros and cons here as you see them as well? Thanks in advance for any answers.

Okay, thanks. I have no idea what it was like before so thanks for explaining.

What makes Brutes like that now? Is it just there are other more enjoyable ATs or was there a big change to their playstyle that makes them much different from before?

Which are the ones you add to every build that aren't in the list above?

Yes, very true. There are a lot of complexities so I'm trying to break it down into more digestible chunks and make it more understandable that way. There's a ton of complexity and the mechanics are often very different from other MMOs, which I like for both cases, but that does mean there's a learning curve. I think trying to figure out everything in this game right away would lead to information overload.

I understand there's more to it and I appreciate people's insights. However before somebody can walk or run they need to learn how to crawl or, for this example, understand how the general bonuses work before applying synergy to individual circumstances. Everyone who has replied seriously has been helpful but, before I can think about how something would work for a specific character or scenario, I need to ensure I'm working with a decent grasp of the basics. This is, afterall, an over twenty year old game (with all the changes that time span implies) I've never tried until recently with tons of outdated guides and information out there and differences in rule sets for the different groups of people running servers and somebody can go down the wrong path or be misled quite easily if they don't ask. Perhaps a stat is like with LOTRO where one stat is a poor choice for nearly everyone but good with one class (eg Beornings). I won't know that until I ask. It's certainly not a slight on any of the help offered; I appreciate all the insight. I'm just working on making sure I grasp the general fundamentals before moving onto the specifics.

Does that also apply to Ouroborous then? If I were doing (or redoing) any story arcs attuned enhancements would be better than boosted enhancements?

Thanks so much for the links and info. So if I did have multiple Endurance Mod powers and wanted to slot a Performance Shifter in each one I would benefit from it? I'm not saying I want to as that would depend on specific circumstances and characters; I'm just asking is that possible?

Thanks for the advice but there seems to be a miscommunication with some people. The point of the question isn't whether there are opportunity costs involved or not (there are of course but that's not relevant to what I'm asking). The question is if in a white room situation with infinite resources and slots would there be a reason to not take those IOs? They appear to grant a benefit to everyone and although some ATs would benefit more than others (eg absorb on a tank is more useful than absorb on a blaster) but, if being attacked, absorbing damage would still help a blaster. As I new I want to make sure I understand the mechanics of how these work. So, the question is do these IOs provide a useful benefit to everyone or is there something I'm overlooking? I understand that there are limited slots and something might fit a concept or mechanics better but I'm really just asking for a yes or no. Are the benefits provided by these IOs something useful for every AT or not?

If I were to have unlimited slots and budget and didn't have to worry about opportunity costs why wouldn't they help? To clarify, I know that this game has diminishing returns and some different interactions which is what I'm asking about (eg from what I've read one Performance Shifter in an auto endurance mod power is good but two in two auto endurance mod powers is wasted as the procs will synchronize upon entering a zone and only one will give a benefit). Is there any reason why that would apply to the mods I listed above or any reason that a blaster, for example and setting concepts and opportunity costs aside, would not benefit from having absorb? It would be more beneficial on a melee for sure but is there anything that make having any of the above not desirable or wasted on any archetype if they weren't concerned about opportunity costs?

I'm new so I'd appreciate some insight. For IOs that are good for everyone is there a reason to not take any of the following singular IOs (providing they can be slotted) ? Miracle (15% recovery) Numina's Convalescence (10% Recovery and 20% Regen) Preventive Medicine (Chance for + Absorb) Luck of the Gambler (up to 5 global recharge ones if enough powers are available) Shield Wall (5% Resist All) Unbreakable Guard (7.5% max HP) Aegis (5% Psi Res/ 20% Mez Res) Gladiator's Armor (3% Def (All)/TP Prot) Performance Shifter (Chance for Endurance) Correct me if I'm wrong, but budget and slot allocation priorities notwithstanding, would these enhancements help with every type of build? As well, I read that set enhancements can be boosted. How would that work with the above IOs? Would it boost, for example, the Recovery and Regeneration percentage of Numina's Convalescence and/or the global recharge of Luck of the Gambler? Thanks in advance for any replies