Scarlet Shocker

ok so it sounds like you're saying I can drop some of the claws attacks. Again, limited experience gives me limited data Maybe I should ask what are the must haves and can drop powers in claws to inform my build further

https://api.midsreborn.com/legacy/download?uc=1721&c=754&a=1508&f=HEX&dc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

Thanks guys, some excellent info here. I'm slowly slowly beginning to enjoy melee in this game! 🤣 This is a build I've experimented with - just a rough thing I knocked up before work this morning. I'd opriginally gone for Energy Mastery - partly because of the eye beams, which appeal thematically. I'd also thought of Leviathan because I just love Bile Spray. but I've gone with Gloom-heavy SM and it seems pretty good for a beginning effort. MoG seems to be achievable just under 25% of the time so a brief pause between rucks and I might get some leverage. I've said it before and I'll say it again - although it works thematically on a Brute I hate the Fighting pool. I could be persuaded otherwise but this seems like an interestingly good start.

I started playing a Claws/Regen Brute; Barbizilla (you can check her origin elsewhere in the forums if you're that interested) - basically a concept character that I built and let languish but then suddenly realised I was enjoying playing. However, I rarely ever play melee characters and I have never to my recollection ever played a Regen character. It's fun (she's around 34 I think) but it's a lot more work than most toons I've played, even some of the more finicky Controllers/Dominators I've been reading some of @Spaghetti Betty's wise words here but I have seen a lot of stuff for the more advanced/experienced Regen brute, not the novice. The Claws element seems pretty straight-forward - punch something hard enough and stab/slash it at the same time. But Regen needs more input so where do I go with that? Also what APP/PPP works well? If you hadn't already guessed this is a "magical" blend of Barbie and Godzilla, two plastic kids toys smooshed into a living superbeing made of self-repairing polymer. I had thought Fire as an APP for thematic reasons but sadly I don't think fire breath is available. What pools are mandatory, advisable, preferred? Thanks in advance for input.

If there is an assumption that the radiation in City of Heroes is harmful, there may also be an assumption that mediporters, Ouroboros and Portal Corp all have ways to remove the harmful effects of radiation, thus making the point entirely moot.

So your argument is basically "suspend belief for all powers except radiation which causes long term ill-effects." Got it!

Yes I've... tried to use some of your macros in the past I believe 😂

In a universe where you can rip open a hole to the dark dimension to bring forth all kinds of yukky stuff, where you can literally hit someone over the head with a huge axe as long as a short bus or where you can scream so loud no eardrum could withstand it... or indeed set someone on fire... your argument is entirely specious.

@Snarky

In an entirely fictional game setting, that is simply not true.

If you've ever tried knitting with microfilaments you'll understand why they are so damned expensive 🤣

I'm gonna be a bit more serious than most of the responses here. We've lost some amazing friends to cancer, in this game, in other lives and throughout our lives. To an extent it's something we have all experienced, directly or indirectly. Loved ones have succumbed and we've held their hands and wished them goodbye and mourned. But everyone of you reading this has at least survived those moments and come through them - altered perhaps and changed forever but still here, still moving forward. My own journey with cancer is something I'm not going to reiterate here - if you know, you know - and so far I've beaten it and I'm probably going to die of something unrelated so there's that. But we're bombarded by particles and radiation every single moment of every single day so let's not make radiation and cancer synonymous. Let's also differentiate between the "atomic" radiation and the metal thing on our wall we call a radiator that keeps us warm in winter. Radiation is a very broad term that means many different things to different people. But in a comic book world, radiation rarely makes your teeth and hair fall out. It's more likely to turn you into a giant green rage monster or give you the ability to teleport and possess a prehensile tail. Or perhaps imbue a spider with magic venom that works once and once only. It's a good question from the OP - but I fear he may be trying to take a comicbook scenario that is rarely that serious and turn it into a real world case and that's a strangely profiled peg and a peculiarly radiused whole. Let's remember that while in the real world some radiates might give us a disease, others might cure us. It ain't black and white. Perhaps we should just take it for what it is in our game and assume it only harms people we specifically aim it and intend it to harm and then only temporarily. If you don't like that, well the mediporters remove all anomalies and hey presto, back to normal. And of course, Paragon has invested billions in the unseen, unheard, unappreciated "Clean-up Crew" who put stuff back and rebuild things once the heroes and villains have finished trashing the place. So I'm thinking they remove all traces of rad from the environment while at it. But they really are a thing - they're just more ninja than pirate. Ultimately I leave the OP to arrive at some form of conclusion himself and make peace with.

There's a reason they are called the Freakshow. There's possibly an argument for updating them but then... we'd have to ask for fingers on all character models and stuff that simply may not be possible to do. If you don't want/like, ignore as far as possible. But please - and I'm sincere in this - never assume that something you dislike is universally hated. The whole point of this game is that is has two decades of content and updates and development that mean it's exceptionally well rounded, whilst being imperfect. Your famine is another's feast, and vice versa. Let everyone enjoy what they will. That's the main reason I almost never advocate for stuff to be taken out of the game, even if I personally find it makes my skin crawl. Because this isn't just my game. It belongs to everyone who loves it - and not all bits are loved in equal measure but they all are part of the whole.

You obviously have greater knowledge than me. I kinda stopped after Bluecoat and Epsom and the Normandy breakout through Caen. I went on a field trip through the whole Normandy battle front when I was reading my degree, but that was way back in '98 and I've put that to bed long ago. My main focus was on the Strategic Bombing Campaign, especially the US 8th AAF and their military effectiveness - which inevitably gets compared to the RAF efforts. But that's another story...

Inspirations should be forced into the arena and made to fight one another. Then they'd be duel inspirations! Actually I think they are about as much use as a rubber duck in the Sahara