Saikochoro

I mainly made a FA / SS as a reincarnation of my main on live. I chose that combo without knowing it was popular back in the day. I thought what could be more cool than a fire shield and being super strong? My first 50 on live (only one of 2 50s even after playing for years) was a SS / FA Brute. I figured I would resurrect him as a tanker.

I’ve tried the Arachnos soldier up through crab and it wasn’t clicking with me for whatever reason. I can certainly give it another whirl at some point. I was more thinking of trying to branch away from it on stalkers, scrappers, brutes, sentinels, etc. But yeah, I agree the problem goes away when I play an archetype that doesn’t have that option 😉

I have a strange request. I need some help in getting more variety in my builds. Ironic given that I just posted about having too much altitis haha. A BIG part of the problem is Bio Armor. Particularly offensive adaptations damage bonus + toxic damage. I also have always historically liked healing secondaries. I’m posting this in general because it affects a lot of archetypes and figured I may get more advice on this board. I have realized that on basically any archetype that can take bio I end up taking it pretty much every time. Mainly because I like the damage bonus and damage has always been my focus. Each time I start trying a different secondary I get the “But I’m missing out on so much bonus damage!” thought. I’ve started to really enjoy blasters lately due to not even having the option to choose bio. I feel like this is limiting me and that my mindset needs to change. I know that it’s supposed to be a good secondary, possibly even the best. But, I need to branch out. I’ve managed some success with going shield, but that locks out some primaries so it only works some of the time. I’d also like to start going after defense as a primary mitigation due to all the guides I’ve been reading always seeming to go after defense soft caps. I know I can get there with IOs, but having a better base I’m sure reduces the cost. So, I’ve been looking into ninjitsu, super reflexes, energy aura, etc. But, I end up turning back to bio armor. I’m sure at end game a lot of sets can put out great damage. Bio just has that up front bonus from level 10 that draws me and I need to branch out. I might be the only one who has this problem, if you can call it a problem, but perhaps there are others who have the same issue. Can you talk me out of using bio armor?

Yeah I am having fun with the alts. I think that will always be my number one fun thing in the game. Just have to get at least one toon to the end to taste the end game stuff. I tend to enjoy the 30s the most so far. Highest level I have is a tanker at 44. The forties have been fun to. I enjoy the higher levels because it has more of the powers unlocked.

Yeah totally forgot about the stat monitoring. Doesn’t take long, but it is annoying to set for each alt. Wish that could be a default saving setting. Unless it can be and I don’t know about it.

I understand this. I’m slightly different in that bios and whatnot had never been part of my interest in the game. It has always been about the powersets and archetypes for me. So that save some time in making alts. I also enjoy the same colors. I have several outfits that I have made to fit different themes. A ninja type outfit, cowboy, sci-fi, demon, etc. These fit most of my concepts, but sometimes will alter it or do so at a later time if I want. Sometimes I do make a whole new outfit though. It took me a long time to figure out how to save my window layout and keybind to default. That was the biggest pain, but now that my settings are default I don’t have that issue anymore. But yeah, the chores of making a new alt do sometimes curb it slightly for me. At least for a day 😉.

Thank you all for the replies. I went ahead and got the critical strikes ATOs. I also just discovered the smoke and mirrors merit farming the other day. So, I’ve been doing that to get some inf to buy the other set.

Quick update. I ended up making two tankers. One is the shield defense / electric and another is fiery aura / super strength. Both are in their thirties and have been fun so far. I’ll update again when I get one of them to 50. Might be a while with my altitis though haha.

Very true. I am enjoying it. So not truly a problem. However, I do still want to experience level 50 stuff and try out incarnates and whatnot at some point. Never tried that on live. Maybe I will get there eventually haha. I guess I wonder if other like me that have altitis pretty bad have found a way to stick to one toon long enough to at least try the end game stuff.

I love this game. I love it when I played it on live. I love it now. I have the same compulsion now that I did on live. Making alt after alt after alt with no end in sight. Not that this is a bad thing. The variety and excitement of trying out new powerset combos and ATs is a massive part of the fun for me in this game. However, I find myself hardly able to go more than a day without making a new alt. I’ll be plugging along on a new tanker I made thoroughly enjoying it. Then I team up with a ninja blade stalker and I think to myself, “man that looks cool.” I already have a StJ stalker and a katana scrapper, so I decide to put off making that ninja blade stalker. I continue on playing my tanker with the goal to get it to 50. 10 minutes later I load into atlas park on my ninja blade stalker. As I run a few radios with a small group I notice a particularly cool dual pistols/martial combat blaster. I say to myself, “No, I want to get to at least level 20 before making a new toon.” I already have a dual pistols sentinel and MA scrapper anyway. I continue on my goal to reach level 20 on my ninja blade stalker. 5 minutes later I load into atlas park on my brand new dual pistols / martial combat blaster. I tell myself, “Maybe I will go do a few AE missions in the steel canyon building.” Nobody seems to ever be there, so I won’t see anyone else and get tempted again. On my way to the steel canyon AE I see a scrapper pull out two katanas. 5 minute later I load into atlas park on my dual blades scrapper. Don’t get me wrong. I am having a lot of fun. But, for the life of me, I can’t seem to find a cure for the itch.

The changes prompted me to make two tankers that I am currently leveling up. I had always wanted to make one, but felt the Brute was the better option. I feel like the changes probably closed the gap so I dove in.

I was also curious about this. With the tanker buffs I was wondering if they can now farm as fast as brutes. I know brutes have fury going for them, which will boost their damage quite a bit above tankers even with the tanker base damage increase. I was however wondering if the tanker aoe buffs (target cap increase and size increase) is enough to narrow the damage gap or even eliminate it. I know burn makes up a tremendous amount of the damage and am not sure what target caps (if any) it has. So wasn’t sure if that will influence it also.

Question on the scrapper ATOs. Basic question is which set to get. I dont have enough influence to get both sets. I can probably get one full set and the single proc crit buff IO of the other. Eventually I may have enough to get both, but for now I can only get one. So the question is, which one should I get having to choose between the two? It seems that the scrapper strike set bonus is pretty nice with the + recharge. In reading a few other threads it’s seems like critical strikes might be the way to go though. I plan to put them in either an MA/bio or a Dual Blades/bio scrapper. Which power would you slot them in? I’m guessing the critical strikes one is a bit more picky in regards to where to slot it. I was thinking EC if I put them in MA. Not sure about dual blades though. Any advice would be welcome. Thank!

Thanks a bunch. I’ll give a couple of those builds a go. I decided to roll the shield defense electrical melee tanker. I’m sure it will be the first of many.

I’ve always loved MA animations, but I would have thought it didn’t have enough aoe. Guess shield shores that up?

I’m leaning towards shield with the replies thus far. How does electric melee pair with it? I know it’s supposed to be a pretty popular pairing with scrappers, but haven’t tried it out. I do like the animations though.

That’s good to know about shield. I somehow got the impression that it was an expensive set to make decent. But, if that’s not the case then shield defense seems to definitely be a front runner. Though I’m still open to other primaries. What secondaries do you like having with shield?

Thanks for the info. I had been considering both invulnerability and shield a lot since they have been mentioned a ton in other threads. But I wasn’t sure how they fair without huge investments. I also know that shield limits secondaries a little. What about something like willpower? I read that it’s taunt isn’t great, but was that fixed with the tanker changes? I was actually trying to steer clear of my MOAR damage mindset. I mean if a primary has damage bonuses that’s cool and all, but I don’t want to lose focus by seeking for more damage. Hence my bio armor example. I know it gets an offensive adaptation, and I’d be too tempted to always use it even if I’m better off in defensive or efficient as a tanker. So to reduce my temptation of seeking damage I figured I’d just rule out the set. Unless it’s just too good to give up. I hope that made that caveat more clear.

Hi Tankers! I have decided that I want to make a tanker and get it to 50. I never played a tanker on live. Both on live and on HC so far I live and breathe brutes, scrappers, and stalkers. I’d like a change of pace and maybe even to become a tanker main. I’ve been prowling the tanker forums for a bit and have read up on some discussions that have helped, but I want to ask some advice again that is a bit more tailored to me. I want some advice on a great primary and secondary to choose with a few caveats: As my background suggests, I am a damage junky. However, as a tanker I don’t want my addiction to damage to detract from my role. As such, I am thinking of ruling out bio armor because I’d be too tempted to just stay in offensive mode all the time. If it’s truly just an outstanding set anyway I will still consider it though. I’d like a good mix of single target and AoE damage. But if I had to choose, I’d choose aoe over single target. Especially given the recent tanker changes. I don’t have a ton of influence and even less time. So, I’m not going to have a top tier IO build. I understand I won’t have as good of performance as one with large investment in IOs and I’m okay with that. I’d like to know a good primary with minimal investment (generic IOs), but that can scale well if I do decide to invest a lot after the fact. Most importantly - I want it to be hella fun on the journey to 50 as well as beyond. And for it to be a good team player the whole time. P.S. I’m also ruling out spines as a secondary. I just don’t have fun with spines. Thank you all in advance!

I have the same problem as OP. The game wants to run in the intel graphics card instead of my dedicated nvidia card. I did what you put in there and it still defaults to the intel card. The nvidia card does run on other games though. Just having issues getting it to be the default for COH.

All whales swim in the ocean. Sea Creatures swim in the ocean. Therefore all sea creatures are whales...Logical fallacy right? We have players who don't know very well how to play the game, and we have Power Levelers...but the two aren't necessarily related We have different segments of PL'ers - Vet Players looking to get to lvl 50 and do whatever end game content they want Players who are being PL'ed by their friends so they can be the same level their friends are People exposed to PL'ing thru an in-game connection - shows them how to do it, and off they go People who read how to PL and just did it But let's be fair, no one just comes to the game, completely clueless and starts to PL. They have to either a.) acutely aware of the game mechanics in a way to build an "exploit" to level quickly without grinding or b.) they have to been exposed to it by someone else who knows what they are doing. So unless you fall into those last 2 segments, and however you were exposed to the game didn't share with you any other mechanics...you might struggle when you get to 50...But these are the minority cases, not the rule... Conversely there are different segments of people who don't play well as other players Casual Gamers who don't min/max People who don't understand AT Balance and ignore their secondaries - "Pure Healer","Damage Only","All Holds all the time" People who get bad advice and don't know to question it People who solo and don't read Paragon Wiki or the Forums Doesn't read like a list of people who only power level, does it...I mean I could be a power leveler and be any of those...but there are lots of players who don't PL who fall into all of these as well... It helps a lot on these forums when we don't paint with a big brush and label a segment of players as being "all one thing"...Player's reasons for being who they are and how they play and why they play are as varied as the sunsets... So yes it sucks when you do a PUG and someone doesn't know all the ins and outs as well as you do, but if they leave that group and haven't learned anything, that's now on you, not them And I would argue, if you're bar for a pickup group is "master level", then you have set a very high bar that most people who play this game can't meet. Now it may seem like I am slamming you ChocolateMercenary, and I am not...You've expressed a common opinion on these forums. This post is as much for them, and not an intent to single you out. But your post gave me an opportunity to respond... Very well said. It’s pretty sad that the opinion that PL/Farm = automatic idiot is so common. Especially when some of those opinion holders go so far as to say that PL/Farmers should be ridiculed and laughed at. I don't think that's common. In fact, I think most vet 50s farm in some form to afford enhances. Also, this thread turned into the Perma-haten thread. I see you rollin'.... Perma-Haten that’s pretty good.

All whales swim in the ocean. Sea Creatures swim in the ocean. Therefore all sea creatures are whales...Logical fallacy right? We have players who don't know very well how to play the game, and we have Power Levelers...but the two aren't necessarily related We have different segments of PL'ers - Vet Players looking to get to lvl 50 and do whatever end game content they want Players who are being PL'ed by their friends so they can be the same level their friends are People exposed to PL'ing thru an in-game connection - shows them how to do it, and off they go People who read how to PL and just did it But let's be fair, no one just comes to the game, completely clueless and starts to PL. They have to either a.) acutely aware of the game mechanics in a way to build an "exploit" to level quickly without grinding or b.) they have to been exposed to it by someone else who knows what they are doing. So unless you fall into those last 2 segments, and however you were exposed to the game didn't share with you any other mechanics...you might struggle when you get to 50...But these are the minority cases, not the rule... Conversely there are different segments of people who don't play well as other players Casual Gamers who don't min/max People who don't understand AT Balance and ignore their secondaries - "Pure Healer","Damage Only","All Holds all the time" People who get bad advice and don't know to question it People who solo and don't read Paragon Wiki or the Forums Doesn't read like a list of people who only power level, does it...I mean I could be a power leveler and be any of those...but there are lots of players who don't PL who fall into all of these as well... It helps a lot on these forums when we don't paint with a big brush and label a segment of players as being "all one thing"...Player's reasons for being who they are and how they play and why they play are as varied as the sunsets... So yes it sucks when you do a PUG and someone doesn't know all the ins and outs as well as you do, but if they leave that group and haven't learned anything, that's now on you, not them And I would argue, if you're bar for a pickup group is "master level", then you have set a very high bar that most people who play this game can't meet. Now it may seem like I am slamming you ChocolateMercenary, and I am not...You've expressed a common opinion on these forums. This post is as much for them, and not an intent to single you out. But your post gave me an opportunity to respond... Very well said. It’s pretty sad that the opinion that PL/Farm = automatic idiot is so common. Especially when some of those opinion holders go so far as to say that PL/Farmers should be ridiculed and laughed at.

This has never even crossed my mind. All I do is click the NPC and it lets me in. I don’t pay attention to where just that it highlights blue and then proceed in. I think you are way over thinking it.

I am not saying those people didn't exist, but it was accepted by the majority that it was the wrong way to play, and those people were duly ridiculed for doing so. Not to mention, I vividly remember Positron going on a rampage when people started using AE to powerlevel and farm, doling out nerfs and bans like a goddam vengeful deity. The folks at Paragon were very disappointed to see a tool for creativity used as a shortcut. Yeah, powerlevelers and farmers existed, in a minority, and as a sort of grimy underbelly that we mostly ignored and laughed at. It was not THIS bad. Every other character I see is a damned Spines/Fire now. So a portion of the player base didn’t play how you thought they should and you think it was right to ridicule them? How is that the wrong way to play? If that is what people enjoyed, then they were doing it right. I did a good amount of the story and it bored me to death. The story in most games bores me to death. I give it a shot anyway just to see if it will interest me and have yet to enjoy the “proper” way of playing more than my own custom way of playing. What I enjoyed was getting into mid levels to test out as many power combos as I could. The entire group of people I played with on live chose to ignore most story content as they felt it was boring. And instead focused on making alts they enjoyed. These people were not few and far between. You don’t see me ridiculing people who enjoy the story content as lesser players. Doesn’t matter if a dev disagreed with how AE was used. They should have had the foresight to understand that a good portion of most player bases enjoy farming. Content writers shouldn’t think so highly of their work that they can’t accept that some people just don’t enjoy it. The whole attitude that farming is a lesser way, a minority, and worthy of ridicule is asinine. The toxicity that’s group of self appointed fun police is always what has been my absolute least favorite part of this game. Of course that factions survived into HC. The community in this game is pretty awesome and helpful. However, this prejudicial attitude and inability to accept alternative play styles is a black mark on the community. Agreed. Also I am of the opinion that a lot of the lower level content has NOT aged well. It needs to be updated for me to want to run it for the 2221212134 time. Which I don't see happening anytime soon. (The re-writes and updates) I agree that it hasn’t, though to be fair I thought it was super boring on live too. That’s just the thing. Some people just can’t accept the idea that not EVERYONE agrees with their idea of fun. I say let people play how they want.

I love full auto.