Six-Six

I believe the variety is there, you just need to unlock it through a bit of creativity. Teams, TF/SFs are not obligated to run with a full set of 8, or with just 8 for that matter. I usually run with a friend or two, so there's just two or 4 of us at the most. (and none of that Tank/DPS/Heal/Control BS. We bring whatever toon we like and make do with what we have. Sometimes, there's a bit of role playing, like limiting the toon's powers to what is realistic for the character (I have a soldier who just has guns and gadgets, he has no business throwing force bolts from his hands or running super speed)... as opposed to going full meta with a fire/plant/dark whatever. How the mission progresses depends on who's present. Do we take them head on? Stealth if we can? or lure them to a corner and punch their lights out one by one. Some of my blasters like to punch things instead of snipe, others don't mind getting mezzed because that's part of their character, some of my sents can hold aggro and take punishment, etc. It's not all about speed runs and herding-AoE steamrolling. What I would like to see in terms of variety is a bit of RNG in the AVs and/or mobs we face. You got a team ready to face Silver Mantis? tough bananas because you're facing Ghost Widow instead. Expecting to be sapped by Malta? turns out they're experimenting with plant toxins instead. Ready for Longbow's Wardens? they happen to bring along Subjugators or Vanguard Magicians or Carnies. You hold the power to your enjoyment.

My Rad/Energy is at 45 atm. I've slowed down her progress because I enjoy the character so much. did most things solo. She's a blapper, btw, for those up close and personal... erm... discussions with the enemy mobs.

Glad to see a kindred spirit. I'm the Commander of Black Fang. All VEAT SG in Reunion. For the Glory of Arachnos!

leave no witnesses. I always kill all even if the mission doesn't say I should. It didn't say I shouldn't either 😃

As long, I suppose, that it is not Order 66 😃

I enjoy them both, but for different themes. Other than obvious Ninja theme, I tend to use Ninjitsu for my "human" only toons. They get decent def, some well-rounded res, and clickies for end recov, regen, and status protection. It makes sense to me that ordinary humans take some time to do those 3 things as opposed to having them in auto or a constant toggle-and-forget. SR, I use for "enhanced humans" (kinda like Captain America). they get super-agility that allows them to dodge most attacks, and quicken their recharge rate... which passed the realm of ordinary humans. Meta-wise, I have found SR to be extremely useful for Sentinels given their lacking damage. the faster recharge allows you to do two nukes in under 90 secs, the same time it takes a blaster's nuke to recharge. so ya, you're not doing as much per attack, but you're attacking more often. I tend to lean towards SR as it has been incredible for my DP and BR as the latter feels really slow with any other secondary. Besides, I'm not too fond of stealth powers which hide my suits. 😃

what substances are you people abusing... can I have some 😃

How do I do that?

oh. I did not know this. =( Thanks 😃

I don't mind slow animations, although some animations I like better than others (like Fire Breath alternative from the hand) even when the power is one of the weaker ones -- it's all about making it look good to the adoring public 😃 What bothers me is the sound and other effects like Water Blast's screen shake, absolutely disorients me when I play it. Unfortunate because it's one of my best costumes and themes as well as one of the stronger Sentinels in my roster. It's also strange because Earth Dom's shake don't bother me as much. Thankfully for the audio, I've found some SFX mods (by @Solarverse) that have really made the toon better... stronger even.

My cut off is level 15-20. I usually start with a concept which is a name + AT + powers and some notion of how they should be played. Once it's out of the costume I usually take it out for a test drive to level 10 (unless RL cuts it short). Usually by level 15-20, I can tell if it will hold up against the idea in my head. If not, it's either rerolled to a more fitting AT/power set, or set to percolate (as to why it's not working), or parked... waiting for a epiphany. (I've had toons that have sat in wait for almost half a year, and I'm playing them now). Now, I do have "rough drafts" or brain farts which are character concepts that are kinda meh. I keep them for a while until I "edit" them to a better version of the concept. I have names waiting for costumes, costumes waiting for AT/Powers, powers waiting for names. I suppose those get deleted even though they are re-rolled into a better version right away. Once a toon has passed level 20, however I commit to go all the way to 50 sooner or later. t's funny, but sometimes, the only thing wrong with the toon is the costume, or the name, which makes it unplayable for me.

Just got my second 50 the other day, and here's my semi-solicited advice: I've learned to categorise Dom powers into: Quick controls (fast recharge primaries) Long controls (long recharge primaries) Damage (anything that causes decent damage not as a secondary effect of the power) End-suckers (primary/secondary/mastery powers that are toggles with more than 50/s end consumption) at lower levels, I tend to pick 2-3 Quick Controls and 2-3 Long Controls and maybe 1 Long Control. While damage may be lacking early on, I will still be able to kill enemies no matter how slow. it is tempting to take that end-sucker toggle early on, but I've found that if I give in at take it early, I can't afford to turn it on anyway. At around level 12-20, I start working on a few def and res powers. the usual tough/weave and leadership tactics and investing in Rune of Protection even if my toon shouldn't fly. This isn't always necessary as I've had instances when I die, rez and continue to fight quite effectively even with all toggles off. Around level 30 is when I start slotting set IOs. Set bonuses make the world of difference for my Doms with regards to def and res. So it depends whether I like to play the toon from range or up close. Up until now, damage has taken a back seat, and I often feel as OP as a wet noodle. So from here on, it's time to pile on the damage development. Doms will never match the damage of Blasters/corrs, but the combination of holds and damage still makes it a formidable foe/ally. Lastly, I tend to concentrate on one-two types of domination per toon... my Ice tends to slot for -Recharge and Slow, my fire on holds and KD, working on a Dark/Martial that will focus on -To Hit and Fear. Unlike my Fortunata who has the whole gamut of controls. Oh, and don't forget to set that Domination power to auto.

a lot of brilliant ideas... some I never even dreamed that I need. Let me see if I can throw in something to the pot... Not a big revamp, but I suppose could entail some work: make team missions affect every member. My idea here is when I team, only the leader gets the NPC dialogue (even with TFs), only the leader gets credit for completing the arc, and usually only the leader gets the reward merits (except TFs). For example, If I team with someone who's doing say Twinshot's arc, then I get to read the major NPC dialogue as if I was the leader. At least make it an option to be able to view it along with the leader. (on the other side of the table, make an option to turn off or skip cut scenes, I can almost recite Romy's by heart). Also, get credit for completing the contact mission. If I run Marchand's missions with someone, I shouldn't have to redo them for myself when I do his arc. Maybe that should have prerequisite that I do have that mission up... something like that. It will make it seem that the leader and I are actually doing the mission together, not just me riding piggy-back as a hired hand. Similarly, Tip missions should chalk one down to my tip mission completion -- going for Vigi choices but teamed with someone who was doing Hero choices, too bad, you get +1 to your hero counter instead. That and a Personal Min FX Stealth setting. I spent some time creating that costume, I'd very much like to be able to see it instead of it being hidden from me. This is the biggest reason why I don't play Stalkers. I can be translucent/transparent to everyone else's view, but I want to see my toon.

I may be the outlier of the group, then. I often slot 6pc sets in the opposite order, like Preventive Medicine. The proc is usually the most useful in lower levels when I have limited slots, so It goes proc, fifth, fourth, third... etc. Still in order, just reversed. And when I frankenslot, I like to arrange them by colours... (2pc positron's blast is darker than 2pcs of Annihilation, which is also darker than 2pcs of Detonation; same with 3pcs of Obliteration before 2pcs of Erradication then the Dominator ATO) like a rainbow of hues 😃 I also have this habit of slotting IOs based on their name/title to a power or ATs name. like I've opted for Artillery, Bombardment, and Detonation for my Assault Riffle/Dev Blaster, foregoing Positron's Blast even though it may have more useful set bonuses for the toon. Or limiting myself to Tempest, Maelstrom's Fury, Thunderstrike, on the elec blast powers on my Elec/Storm. It's more thematic that way. 😃

he's got heightened senses in lieu of his eyesight... so he can taste where the shadows are. Reminds me of The Who's Pinball Wizard: He aint got no distractions, Can't hear those buzzers and bells, Don't see no lights a-flashing, He plays by sense of smell, ... that deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball

I have Mind/Savage that I test drove past level 10. very promising. I'm a bit bummed that upon checking, Leviathan Mastery doesn't have the school of sharks for her. Would've fit nicely with the bees, birds, and uh... other bird. 😃 I've also started slotting my Grav/Energy so he's starting to shape up at level 27. My biggest dilemma with Dominators (same with my fortunata) is deciding which powers to take. They're all so cool, but I only have so many power picks. On one toon, I'm even thinking of not investing so much in the def and res department and just let the primary and secondary fend for themselves--which I think is very possible. When I've been killed on my Ice dom, I'd rez with the mob on top of me and continue fighting with my toggles off. I'd only have time to reactivate them when things are dead. 😃

Wow just got my Ice/Ice/Ice to 50 and it was a blast! I can't say which one I enjoyed better, this or the Fire. Now on to the next one 😃

But then, it's mandatory for you to play Starcraft 2. None of this Hero shenanigans

Gah, dang time zones. I missed it. thought it was scheduled for later =(.

You for Sgt. Schorr (https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Sgt._Schorr). One of my faves. if you pick the right choices (give the buggers part of your loot) you get 3 purdy sturdy summons.

I'm almost at 50... wait, were we talking about IQ or age?

I have two claws toons. On my Dominator, it does feel like she could use more damage... but then again all my dominators' attacks are quite lacking. I suppose that's because they're secondary powers (I have no problem with their primary control powers). On my brute, however, I feel it's fine. Numbers-wise, I don't think it measures up to my Energy Melee brute, but nor does it lag far behind. I think the claw's combo-mechanic makes up for it, so an attack chain to maximise that mechanic worked for me. He still cuts down the same amount and notoriety of mobs as my other Brutes and Scrappers. Between you an me, the quietness of the claws maybe why it doesn't feel as strong. It doesn't have the oomph of other melee attacks. It was the case with my Katana scrapper. the vanilla blade sound felt weaker, but your lightsaber made her attacks feel like they're hitting harder. PS. My Brute claws is a guy with a lion head and your Lion Roar Taunt is awesome, though 😃

I just got my first dom to 50 (Yay me!). Fire/Fire/Fire. I must admit, he was one of my more expensive builds, not so much the quality of the IOs, but the respecs and switching IOs (I don't have MIDs, so it's a guess and check for me--which is part of the fun). I love how Fire animates, but I struggled with this one because there were powers that I wanted but couldn't afford end-wise. Couldn't seem to get end consumption under control. He works now, but there are powers I wish I could have taken. Learning from him, I jumped right into my Ice/Ice. She's doing better end-wise, but damaging attacks are a little short atm (only level 20). Very enjoyable with when I duo with a friend. Solo is a bit of a struggle at +1x4. They're held in place and can't attack me, but it takes so long for me to kill them. hopefully that will change when more slots come. I still have Earth/Earth, Mind/Savage (the one I mentioned earlier), Gravity/Energy, and Dark/Martial waiting for some play time. 😃 Electric/, Plant/, /Psi, /Rad, /Thorns I don't have concepts for... yet.

Oh don't get me wrong, I LOVE the content... I think the content is tremendously wealthy... so much so that I don't take it all in at once. On my very first toon (I only started playing when HC came out early last year), I tried getting ALL the contacts I can and doing all of their missions. I was disappointed when I out-levelled them. On my next toon, I took the advise to turn XP off so I don't out-level certain contacts. Then toon number 3 onwards, each toon forged his/her unique story through the choice of contacts the toon made along the way. Some toons only did story arcs, my vigilante only did radio missions, others only street-swept, others exclusively team, do Strike Forces and so on... depending on their character. While most will do a combination of activities, some would not. Is it harder to level? Yes. but that's the toon's story, and he has to stick with it. I also tried door sitting, which to me translates hanging out with one or two friends and shooting the breeze in chat while a brute does his thing around the map--also fun and I have 1 toon who's never seen the outside of AE building to show for it. I've tried user-generated story arcs in the AE as well. Other times, I would go in to AE with a "mentor" to teach me how a certain AT/power set should be. Just last week, a friend sent a tell and wanted to chat while he was farming. I obliged and when I stepped out, I was 12 levels above what I bargained for. Incidentally, I saw a "beginner's guide to fire farming" here in the forums, so I might give that a try and be the one inviting people to door sit while brute does his/her thing. But more often than not I still create a toon, skip galaxy/breakout (or not, depends), go to Kuzmin and seek my fortune as the Destined One from there. I'm now on my 24th toon on her way to 50. Meanwhile, I still play my spiders with a dozen T4s to choose from as the rest of my 50s wait in line to earn all their T4 incarnates. Some of my 50s will never be played again because after "grinding" them to Ramiel, I've learned that I didn't like the AT or power set combination or possibly the character I made for it. At the same time, I have still yet to try countless other combinations as well as ATs as soon as I concoct a concept for them. No, it isn't a grind to me. It's my dream MMO and I'm loving every single waking hour I can spend in it.

What??? The King is dead??? Long Live the King! I think the beauty of CoH is that it evolved from Old School. I've played a bunch of other MMOs where the grind was king. You need materials to craft new armour? go grind. unlock new contacts, new quests? go grind. more xp for the next area or new skills? go grind. Grinding has always been a part of MMOs, and in most of them, it was just that--a necessary but utterly repetitive and boring GRIND! What CoH did is not remove the grind, but give you several choices on how you can. You can do the story arcs, paper/radio missions, task forces, AE farms, AE alternative story arc content (some of which are purdy dang good, too), or any combination of them. Whatever you're doing you're still technically grinding, but in a manner YOU deem fun. So whatever floats your goat, that is King. 😃