Six-Six

DP/SR is one of my all-time faves. Thinking out loud here because... server maintenance 😃 SR "dodges" a lot of attacks, but when some connect they do tend to hurt, though this can be mitigated. So you don't really need a meat shield. SR also gives a heck of a lot of recharge so if you pick a tank/brute/scrapper for your duo, you might kill creeps before the melee can get to them. The only thing I would appreciate from a tank/brute in such a duo would be aggro... then again, if you're attacking them, you'll have their undivided attention. (some of my sents can tank and aggro as well) Controllers and doms can help with crowd control or to hold down bosses/AVs if that's what you're aiming for. however, a bit of control can be had from the sentinel epic pools (of course, not the same level as the AT, but they're there). DP doesn't pack a lot of damage, but it can debuff def and res. It's also got a good balance of ST and AoEs on a fairly short recharge (even made faster by SR). Not sure if sents' opportunity stack (as the write up claims) with other sents will be enough to be worth it, but that might be worth looking into. I would loosely say bring dps, but not recommend a blaster or corruptor as they might not be able to keep up with you. sure they pack a punch, but they die a little too often (with me at least). Mercs MMs might be a good fit thematically. just stay away from caves 😃 I would say duo with: 1) another DP/SR sent 2) a defender... (or offender) for additional buffs and heals. 3) a spider (SoA or Fortunata not widow). the additional double Leadership buffs will make you two very tanky as well as improve damage and to-hit. a huntsman (AR + nades) will go well thematically... with pets in case you need back up... and because spiders are my new favourite, and I'm biased.

I like turtles too.

I like caves

thanks JJ 😃

Hey guys. Slightly less of newb, but still a newb... So if I roll a brute, say sword/shield, would rolling a sword/shield scrapper be redundant? would I notice a difference (as a newb)?

I have a friend who did a Mu character. Started out with a spider, had to pick primaries, but never used them... as mules at the most, and only used the Mu Patron powers. if that counts. I don't think anything is "set". Yes we are forced to take power pools at certain levels; and the 4 you mentioned are quite popular among players, but they are hardly set. I've never taken speed on any of my toons. I do take Leaping's Combat Jumping on almost every toon I make because it can take travel and def IOs at almost no end consumption. On one toon I think I took all 5 powers from Leaping because that's his fighting style. Fighting and Leadership depends on what I need. I've used Fighting's Box, Kick, and Crosspunch (which are usually not what people take fighting for) as my "epic" pool for one or two toons. Leadership is not all that it's cracked up to be--more of a double edged sword. I often take one or more of Sorcery, Flight, Experimentation, and Teleport because they offer more than just travel powers if one cares to try them out. I tried Force of Will on a toon once, but spec-ed out of it. Didn't fit my toon at the time. I've also taken Concealment at low levels out of necessity, but spec-ed out of it as soon as it became redundant. I have yet to design a toon/build that uses the other pools I haven't tried. To think that it is pertinent to take the 4 pools mentioned above is to admit that there is a certain "recipe" all players must follow or perish. That, good sir, would be narrow-minded and unimaginative.

if you're patient, wait for the winter event this year. Winter sets were 50% off last time. that adds up to a tonne of inf. 😃 it's how I got most of my winters.

Hahaha, Switch. I once... way before invasions were a thing... saw a granny just ups and books it, Usain Bolt style. like proper sprint but fully upright, arms swinging wildly not like how we sprint. 😃

I have an elec/elec/elec sent that I use as a tank. very sturdy she is. if you want taunt, there's a power pool for it, though if you have an aura like elec, running around and inflicting damage will get their attention... at least enough for herding. On my other sents, I use the T1 and T2 to get their attention, again for herding. You can't redirect aggro to you like a proper tank, though.

are we, then, talking about implementing a sort of skill tree to the game?

Maxzero and Zeraphia, I figured it was the claws. Sorry for the oversight. I'm more frequently on my 3 SoAs and pure Fort. I had a lowbie widow-fort hybrid that I played again, and now I remember why I stopped playing him. 😃 You're right... about the original post... claws can definitely use a no redraw.

which part of VEATs? the SoA AR doesn't really re-draw unless you switch weapons (to mace or mace to AR, or temp powers), or to summon spider pets... which I think is realistic. even your 3 nades fire from the gun (mace and web) seamlessly. Crab back pack doesn't need it, neither do Fortunatas. Widow claws, I honestly can't recall, if that's what you're talking about.

I was on the second paragraph of "why it's not clinically insane", when I figured it wasn't worth the time and effort to address a faulty premise and conclussion. Instead... AWESOME WORK, ImpousVileTerror! Well done indeed. While I may not agree 100% on all of the points you raised, your thoughts were orderly, well presented, and very well thought through. To add to the already long list of ideas for GM Miss, I propose a bit of reverse-psychology: If we want to INCREASE the redside population, make redside a bit more EXCLUSIVE. People love the challenge, people want what they can't have, and people will go to where they're told not to. One way to do this (not the only way, mind you) is to make the Villain and Rogue alignment powers ludicrously OP. If you switch alignment, you lose the power. is it fair? of course not. We're villains; villains don't play fair. 😃

just noticed this on a recipe drop. It corrected itself once it was crafted, though.

sorry, any "vegetable" that starts off as a flower is a fruit. any other part of the plant (i.e. roots, bark, leaves, etc...) is a vegetable.

A pair of spiders? An Arachnos Soldier and a Widow. by level 10 or 12, you'll have double stacks of maneuvres (one from each) and by 20s, you'll have 4... both spiders can be built either melee or range, aoe or ST, so quite versatile. the lower levels are quite a slog alone, but fun with a partner (I often help lowbies from our all VEAT SG level up). katana + archer is a nice thematic pair as well. Dual Pistols + AR for a bonnie and clyde type of thing 😃 PS. I think it's awesome that you two play together.

I know it sounds obvious. but it is often overlooked. I don't think AT matters so much as I've been on all archer, all spider, all sentinel, etc... It boils down to communication and working together. One of my most despised and regretted runs was on an ITF with a seemingly well-rounded team. However, it was led by one of those divas (happened to be a brute at the time) who would go mob hopping without taunting or herding. he gave no instructions, though I suppose he assumed all of the members have done it before. he wanted the healers to shadow HIM while he sped ahead, leaving most of us to clean up stragglers. result was group was never together, members were frequently overwhelmed, and team wiped several times during the entire run. support had a hard time buffing such a spread out group, healers were too far to res the dead. In contrast, a few of my best experiences were when the leader was a defender who barely got in the mix, but explained each part... what to expect, what the goal was, what the strategy was, and just kept people from dying. gave the tanker tips on what to do, told the stalker to take out enemy healers, support and aoe to handle adds and ambushes. kept everyone together moving as a single unit but everyone doing what they were good at.

A little thing about Jaunt I've noticed the other night. I have it on a macro to select nearest target alive (beats running after them), so kill, jaunt to the next, repeat. but last time I used it on my melee toon, it would TP me away from the fight. I'd be in the middle, kill the creep, press the macro (see the next victim selected... with no obstruction between me and him... and boom I appear 20 feet away in a random direction away from where all the fighting is. happened several times in one night of playing. haven't played my toon since that time, so I haven't recreated the behaviour yet. could be my connection was laggy at the time??? could be my machine needing a restart. I don't know.

I have a different angle on this. I think what makes a team a "good" team is... wait for it... teamwork. I've ran with teams that clearly had the best mix of ATs, but leadership (not the pool power) just wasn't there. everyone just wanted to kill the av, etc. these usually results in wipes and an overall run that wasn't very enjoyable... couldn't wait for it to finish, take my earnings and go. In contrast, I've ran with 2-man and 3-man teams made up of players whose play style I was familiar with; and it was not only a breeze, but fun. One would usually bark out orders (in case we got side tracked). I liked leaving no witnesses, had a lot of aoes, but didn't pack a lot of st damage, so I would be crowd control and handle adds while the other two beat the av to a pulp with undivided attention. we had no healer, per se, but I had recall friend -- so while we're all in the frey, I'd keep an eye on the team window. if one of them seems like he/she is about to die, I'd pull them out of harms way. often roles would change depending on the toons in the group, but the communication, coordination and synergy was always there. also strategy. not everything should be steamrolled, stealthed, or speed ran. just because you could doesn't mean you should. stick to the mission. one team member doesn't have stealth, then the one who does goes to the strategic point and assembles the team. sometimes we'd split up; sometimes we stuck together. it doesn't really matter what AT or powers you bring to the mix. It's how you use what you got that makes a good team player

Just thought of this: Since we're robbing banks, give us the real money (inf) as reward. that would make it more immersive, more lucrative, and more attractive to do mayhem missions. make them harder: bigger heist = bigger risk yielding bigger rewards. say you're robbing a bank with a target of 10mil inf. sometimes it's there, sometimes you find a cache of rare salvage instead (safety deposit boxes), sometimes you just missed the armoured truck pick up, sometimes they upgraded the safe and you need X powers to crack it; or you only have 2-3 mins to rob the bank before scores of heroes come to the rescue -- doesn't matter if you're solo or an 8-man job. it's a bank robbery, you're robbing it. the "law" won't go easy on you. if this is done right, mayhem missions will be the new inf farm. don't do the same for safeguard missions. If a safeguard is successful, they get either a small token reward or a simple "thank you for being the hero you are"... now get out of my bank before you attract more villains 😃

Ha! 😃 And to that, I say that there are less villains because we are more efficient in what we do, hence there is need for less of us to get the job done. I do wish there was some sort of Megalomaniac path or arc. Most villains in the comics and real life "believe that they are doing the right thing." A handful, like the Joker just want to watch the world burn... agents of chaos... rebelling against institution in all of its forms... which is still a respectable motive. The rest that are just driven by greed will not amount to anything but lackeys. Again, not everyone is cut out to have the world bow before them. Had a brain fart just now... blue side, I really liked the Sunstorm and the Nictus chick's (her name escapes me atm) extended story line... the one that starts at level 1 and is connected and progresses with your level until 50. As much as I wanted my PB and WS to visit the bird, I couldn't leave the story unfinished, I was hooked bait, line, sinker (and pole). Maybe something like that for the Megalomaniac arc. that would keep villains (and rogues) redside and prevent frequent alignment switches. those two stories were quite well done IMHO.

tomato, tom-ah-to.

I prefer redside. I like the story better. can the stories be improved? yes, but that's a can of worms. it can be in the same way blue side can be as well. Maybe keep it the way it is and ADD new story lines. Or just maybe have contacts be easier to... erm... contact. One thing I find myself doing more when I'm redside is having "no missions" and "no contacts" until I do a bit of street sweeping or join a TF/SF. I like the mayhem missions the way they are. the time limit and the entire dynamic of it is refreshing. I just saw another thread that petitioned for more rewards (be it merits or otherwise) to be added to each mayhem mission. I think that's a good idea. I also like the atmosphere better. The dark hospitals are AWESOME--stuff of nightmares and horror flicks. The dark maps of arachnos bases (which remain mostly dark even after popping a reveal) adds to the thrill of the chase for me. I've been playing redside for the past few months that when I play blueside, everything is too bright. So... I don't think there's anything anyone can do to increase redside population. I think it ultimately boils down to human nature. everyone just wants to be a "hero". and more importantly, not everyone is simply cut out to be a villain. 😃 PS. Ever notice that most "hero" missions is kill this guy, or kill all; meanwhile when you're a villain, all you're asked to do is mostly steal stuff. who's the real bad guy in the story now?

You get the firebug badge out of mayhem missions... which is a component of the force of nature accolade... which is a dang powerful accolade.

to answer the original post 1) no. I'm new to the game so I try to explore something different each time. I make permutations of certain powers that I like (i.e. for sentinels -- DP/WP, DP/SR, DP/Dark, etc.) or I try similar powers on different ATs like fire/fire blaster, fire/fire, corruptor, dom, sent. 2) I try not to. As much as I like a certain look I've created, I prefer it to be unique to a particular character. I usually have similar pieces on several toons (or one toon's alternate costume) until I get "the perfect look" for him or her. Once I feel that I've achieved that, I tend not to use the same costume pieces on other toons. That said, I have several toons that have their "final" look and about an equal number of work in progress. regarding the naming. I've only passed down a name (my namesake Six-Six) from my first ever toon and incarnate to my current main and current favourite. every one else has their own name, own bio and own personalities. 😃