Scarlet Shocker

This is entirely doable now I think. There's a few options you could have within the set such as the simple shiv stab to the karambit and of course the deadly commando blade between the ribs (used to deadly effect by British and US special forces in WWII ( reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbairn–Sykes_fighting_knife ) This set would encourage me to play a vicious Stalker, an AT I've never gotten to grips with.

This suggestion is rubbish! (sorry, but someone had to! 😄 )

One of the things I could do on CO which was a lot of fun was rifle and sword... starting from range and moving to melee in a very deadly fashion. I really enjoyed that concept a lot, as a kind of "dragoon" type fighter. I also like the idea of "wire control" - using wire to entangle and restrict enemies, see Haywire from Mark Grunewald's classic Squadron Supreme (which IMNSHO remains an unsung classic of the genre and one of the singularly most influential stories ever told in comics) What we don't really have in this game is the "Man in the Chair" - the mastermind/Great Scientist who uses their powers to influence events away from the battlefield - I'm thinking here of characters such as Professor X, The Leader & Puppeteer, Professor Broom, Alfred/Jarvis, even Reed Richards. Even in comicdom these guys were often flung into the thick of it because of the limitations of the mediium but I like the idea of the ultimate remote "Battlemaster" who is controlling things from a distance. Difficult to do in this game but possible. Tentacles - we have a great mechanic in game that is underused. It's most famously Lusca, but also Vines in Plant Control and even in some Dark powers but it could become an entire set of wiggly grasping things that hold, immob, debuff, damage and even eat (we've got the mouths of Mot now) enemies. Combining that with a few Leviathan powers we'd have an amazing and fun set. Or 4.

I'd agree with this but add that one reason I build my own boxes is twofold: I know what's in them but I also manage to completely avoid the "added value" that many manufacturers put into stuff. In my book, added value is something that works for them, not the consumer.

This is true, and I went through a phase of building two a year, usually each build being roughly 6 months behind bleeding edge. I saved boatloads over time and I would normally be able to sell my older rig for only a little less than I paid for it. BUT... that presupposes that your'e capable of doing so and while it's not brain science, it does take some learning and confidence and usually knowing how to get to your components to talk to one another. So for the novice it's probably a non-starter. In the UK, we regularly have computer fairs, where traders hawk their wares and there are usually several PC vendors who will sell you the parts you want and even build the rig on site live to your spec - my gaming rig is such a machine and runs every game I want. For my day to day machine I use my older rig which runs Fedora linux and if I need to work remotely a chrome book. Pay your money, take your choice.

not to mention the sharks with laserbeam eyes 🤣 We actually have a proto-team nucleus in Praetoria going now and are likely to continue over the coming days. Anyone interested is more than welcome to join us. We're just realising that there's something not right in Praetoria, and it might be interesting to scratch the shiny veneer and see what's underneath... but with that, there's a risk. Have you tried not drinking Enriche for even just a day? If you want to take part, drop a message here or ping me in game, my global is @Riff

Elec blast and generally always had a "good history" - it always "used to be ok" but since forever it's got left behind. It "used to" excel at PVP, but then ED and -End got mitigated. It "used to be" one of the best control sets outside of being a controller but almost any other blast set can claim that title, especially Water. And why play an Elec blaster when you can play an Elec controller now? It "used to be" able to drain an AV's end but there's no chance of that now. In fairness it always "used to" have a useless pet. Some things haven't changed. VS remains roughly as useful as a rubber duck in the Sahara desert. (But that in itself makes it so skippable it relieves a tad amount of pressure on decision processes. I don't know if that's sufficient excuse however.) But it does seem odd that it has this kind of mythical aura (I suspect strongly, that there's a lot of rose tints going on here too) that once upon a time it was very good. But it never has been good in my opinion. Not since 2006 when I first rolled my namesake. But... it is fun. It can do some interesting things, and built right, and played right, it can be a boatload of fun. It's challenging to play one to its best, and that (to me at least) adds to the fun. But maybe that's just my take on things, but I've always been one who roots for the under dog. I've always enjoyed the comic characters who have fewer, weaker powers - in my mind that's what makes them great and although I didn't build Scarlet to be that person (I didn't know how Elec Blast performed in comparison to other powers) it didn't take me too long to realise that's where she lived and one reason she became my main for so many years. Is it worth playing? If you enjoy working hard to get the best out of it, absobloodylutely. If you want to walk into a room and kill all the things before your team arrives, not so much. Does it need close and personal scrutiny by devs (of whom successions have failed to even raise a level of interested awareness of its shortcomings)? Very much so. Is it playable now? Yes it most assuredly is. It doesn't need a huge amount of but it does need some. The relatively recent snipe tweaks have helped Zapp take up a good deal of slack from the set but that's probably true of most snipes. But do something creative wtih the -End (maybe give a % to stun if an opponent's end gets too low, for example, or even better boost the amount of Endurance returned to the player, giving Electric Blasters much higher levels of sustain.) Give it a worthwhile pet, something that earns its crust, and do something wtih the nuke which is pretty horrible. (I spent a decade skipping it because it just wasn't worth the grief of the -End crash and lack of damage.That's been partially resolved but it still deserves more.) Much of how you approach the set is going to depend on what you want from your character, and there's nobody else here can answer that one. Give it a go. You might even like it! Yeah Electric Blast "used to be" a lot of fun. It still is to my mind.

I dislike Incarnates for exactly that reason.

thanks. I didn't know those groups existed. I don't RP that... much! 😄

That would be awesome! What TA powers stack?

no I'm not sure what channels they are?

Might I suggest you post your build here? I'm sure there's a lot of great advice you'd get if you did. Clearly something seems to be disfunctional, given that Beasts is one of the best performing MM sets out there, so if we can see what you're doing then we can maybe give you some insight.

I regularly interact with folks on Pacific time. I'm not saying it's perfect but it often happens 😄 but I think this idea does have legs. I hope we can get a team going

Which is bad because...? 8x OSAs and nobody can move out ofit?

Sadly I think TA is getting a bit of a bum steer here. I think we need to consider where "the worst" is in context. I mean, are we asking "The worst MM to solo?" or "The worst MM in a team?" which I suspect would give different answers. I would think TA doesn't fare well on a solo MM because it lacks proper synergy with any of the pets, but it does have some great bonuses, debuffs and control. The problem is, other stuff does the same thing only better. you know what I'm thinking now though. I think we need to make the shittiest MM team we can and run them from 1-50 without PLing them and see how they fare against Incarnates!

without looking at the build in Mids, I'd suggest that's pretty good. IMO Thermal is an excellent support set and Thugs can be very tough on the bad guys. Thermal gives them shields, and some solid debuffs, so I'd imagine this would work very well for you.

because sometimes wishes come true but not in an expected way. Human thinking is remarkably imprecise.

I have one, The Angel of Mons, which is a very good support toon, but rubbish solo. I've created her as a spin on the legend of her name, see The Bowmen by Arthur Machin, which even now arouses many different emotions and stories in England. Essentially it references the Battle of Agincourt and the English bowmen who scored such a famous victory - so in my interpretation she is an Angelic archer leading an elite squad of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to victory. Or she might just be the Goddess of War and ensuring that the war continued... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_of_Mons

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter!

I rarely play defenders, I think I've had one 50 in all the time I played the game but this has piqued my interest so I'm giving it a go. Thanks

I don't know. I think a lot depends on the character you build and how you play them.

I'm not a great roleplayer. I mean, I do ok but it's not one of my main drivers and in the past I've gotten into stories so deep I've had to blow them out because I've got nowhere to go. But I do enjoy "light" RP - nothing too intense (I don't wanna get too angsty) but I do enjoy the bonding and the telling of a contiguous story that not only provides fun in and of itself at the time but gives your character an added dimension that the standard levelling process simply doesn't provide. I would really enjoy running a group from level 1 to 50 and beyond and I think I'd also particularly enjoy running Goldside - I think there's a great story to be had, discovering the corruption behind Praetoria, and then discovering the wonders and challenges of Primal Earth. (I did have a fun SG on live, the ultra-Loyalist Praetorian Imperial Secret Service - so I've got form in that area and I believe it's something the devs overlooked in forcing the path they did which channelled every Praetorian into a funnel) I mostly play on Runion, which means if you deduced that I'm on EU time you win a gold star - but I've no objection to playing on any other server at all. So... long story short, if anyone's interested in forming a "Casual" RP group at times I can manage, I'd be really interested in joining

I played a Beasts/Rad MM and I found that to be really tricky because it has no shields to keep your pets alive. It has other compensations and as we know, some wicked debuffs but once a boss starts wailing deteminedly on your minions they've few places to go but down. Try it and see how it works for you

So I was trying to edit a post - and guess what happened next? Colour me extremely annoyed but thanks for all your inputs thus far. Here's a build I've come up with that I'm pretty happy with (on paper at least) - it soft caps to S/L and has not one but two panic buttons which (should) make me almost invincible in a need to run and hide scenario whilst allowing my pets to deal out a rake of good damage and debuffs. Let me know what you think guys, thanks Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Hot Dogs: Level 50 Natural Mastermind Primary Power Set: Beast Mastery Secondary Power Set: Thermal Radiation Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Force of Will Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Summon Wolves -- AchHee-ResDeb%(A), ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(5), CaltoArm-+Def(Pets)(11), SprCmmoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprCmmoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SphIns-%ToHit(15) Level 1: Warmth -- NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(A), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(3), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(7), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(15), NmnCnv-Heal(17), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(17) Level 2: Fire Shield -- GldArm-End/Res(A), GldArm-RechRes(21), GldArm-ResDam(23), GldArm-3defTpProc(25) Level 4: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(5), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(29), LucoftheG-Def(31), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(46), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(48) Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(7) Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(9) Level 10: Weaken Resolve -- SphIns-%ToHit(A), AchHee-ResDeb%(11) Level 12: Train Beasts -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 14: Cauterize -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(19), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(19), Prv-Absorb%(27) Level 16: Plasma Shield -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A), Ags-Psi/Status(21), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(23), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(27), Ags-EndRdx/Rchg(31) Level 18: Summon Lions -- SprCmmoft-Acc/Dmg(A), SprCmmoft-Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprCmmoft-Rchg/PetAoEDef(33), SprCmmoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SvrRgh-PetResDam(34), EdcoftheM-PetDef(34) Level 20: Project Will -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(25) Level 22: Thaw -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), ImpSki-Status(31), ImpArm-ResPsi(36) Level 24: Fortify Pack -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(29) Level 26: Summon Dire Wolf -- SprMarofS-Dmg(A), SprMarofS-Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprMarofS-Acc/Dmg(36), SprMarofS-Acc/EndRdx(37), PcnoftheT--Rchg%(37), AchHee-ResDeb%(37) Level 28: Forge -- GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(34), GssSynFr--Build%(39), GssSynFr--ToHit(39), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(48), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(50) Level 30: Call Ravens -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(39), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(40), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(42) Level 32: Unleash Potential -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(42) Level 35: Heat Exhaustion -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(42) Level 38: Melt Armor -- ShlBrk-DefDeb(A), ShlBrk-Acc/DefDeb(43), ShlBrk-Acc/Rchg(43), ShlBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(43), ShlBrk-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(50), ShlBrk-%Dam(50) Level 41: Tame Beasts -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 44: Scorpion Shield -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(45), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(45), Rct-Def/Rchg(45), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Rct-ResDam%(46) Level 47: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48) Level 49: Tactics -- HO:Cyto(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 1: Supremacy Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(9) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(3) Level 1: Alpha Howler Wolf Level 1: Howler Wolf Level 1: Pack Mentality Level 18: Lioness Level 26: Dire Wolf Level 0: Marshal Level 0: Invader ------------ ------------ Set Bonus Totals: 10.5% DamageBuff(Smashing) 10.5% DamageBuff(Lethal) 10.5% DamageBuff(Fire) 10.5% DamageBuff(Cold) 10.5% DamageBuff(Energy) 10.5% DamageBuff(Negative) 10.5% DamageBuff(Toxic) 10.5% DamageBuff(Psionic) 16.63% Defense(Melee) 10% Defense 11.31% Defense(Smashing) 11.31% Defense(Lethal) 19.13% Defense(Fire) 19.13% Defense(Cold) 9.13% Defense(Energy) 9.13% Defense(Negative) 6% Defense(Psionic) 12.25% Defense(Ranged) 35.06% Defense(AoE) 3.75% Enhancement(Max EnduranceDiscount) 35% Enhancement(Accuracy) 6% Enhancement(Heal) 58.75% Enhancement(RechargeTime) 22.5% SpeedFlying GrantPower Preventive Medicine (10% chance, if Scourge) 153.6 HP (19.13%) HitPoints 22.5% JumpHeight 22.5% SpeedJumping Knockback (Mag -3) Knockup (Mag -3) MezResist(Confused) 71.25% MezResist(Held) 71.25% MezResist(Immobilized) 71.25% MezResist(Sleep) 71.25% MezResist(Stunned) 71.25% MezResist(Terrorized) 71.25% MezResist(Teleport) 100% (20% chance) 11.5% (0.19 End/sec) Recovery 52% (1.74 HP/sec) Regeneration 15% ResEffect(SpeedFlying) 15% ResEffect(RechargeTime) 15% ResEffect(SpeedRunning) 44.5% Resistance(Smashing) 44.5% Resistance(Lethal) 46% Resistance(Fire) 46% Resistance(Cold) 28% Resistance(Energy) 28% Resistance(Negative) 31.75% Resistance(Toxic) 42.75% Resistance(Psionic) 22.5% SpeedRunning | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1565;742;1484;HEX;| 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I don't think a Mercs/Rad would be so horrible. If they stay alive long enough you could kill most tough enemies