Snarky

There used to be something called the cottage rule. While I disagreed with a LOT (not shocking I know) that the various Dev teams did, I could always find some respect for that concept. Personally I look backwards. At what Brutes were. It seems every change made to the game (with the exception of adding inherent fitness) has been to the detriment of the Brute class. Sometimes blatant nerfs aimed at Brutes. Sometimes massively buffing, oh, Tanks for instance. Sometimes tweaking a power that Brutes use, but always making it less useful. Adding massively large damage patches that Melee characters have no answer for. I swear Sentinels do have a purpose. It is the end goal of the collective Dev Teams to make Brutes a melee version of Sentinels. And on they march to the goal, here a power nerf, there a broad spectrum downgrade, now buff another melee class, quick nerf that specific Brute power.

i feel vaguely singled out and insulted, while somehow being jammed into a collective....

Superhero aficionado mmorpg event. SAME. That opens it to champions, ship of idiots, lost city of titans, w/e I did my part. I gave you a name. Now go out and be the SAME

And I never even realized Fiery Aura got a Carp! Seriously though…. This just proves the point of my last two major Brute threads. I think (unless pesky undead hunters catch up to me) I will be devoting most of the next year and a half to music and writing. Very grateful for the game being back. Sad times for Brutes getting sadder, rowing my improvised lifeboat away from the Titanic now. Hope the Carp do not get me!

Well, if your backstory is that long you could write up a short story about it. Then a synopsis for the game. I learned good reporters use a pyramid when writing. The first paragraph will have the core information. The next couple paragraphs will expand on the important points mentioned. Then below that will be in depth information. If an editor needs to cut to fit the space available they just chop the bottom off and then what is left is what gets printed

Also, my MiDs numbers are way off. Spent a couple hours working on a build, then respecced a toon into it. Not accurate. Checks incarnate powers, usual suspects, etc. Kind of in the process of grieving it and finding a hole to stick it in.

This happened to me on live with my first (last ) stone Brute. I had this great look I was happy, really happy with. Then had to shit can the entire thing and walk around in this weird skin. Lasted an hour. Never played it again

I was talking about raw damage but this in depth analysis helps a lot. Thanks. So, even if i do not want to "main tank" rolling on a Tank will help a team way more than a Sentinel, due to the factors you state. (*side note, I take taunt even on my Brutes. Never did on live, but the game has evolved, we have more powers over the years, and Taunt rocks) I am starting to lean into the idea of a Dark/Dark Tank for my Halloween Lich concept. Personally, I think Dark armor is horrid for Tanking. The non suppressing stealth is exactly opposite of what a "TANK" needs. But it will work fine for "lazy Melee"

With Tank AoE upgrade, and many using them as Farmers, I was wondering how a Sentinel compares to a Tank in raw damage output.

Yeah, pretty sure why I shelved this one after farming it up. Dark Invul Brutes are on the lesser side of damage dealing of the Brutes. Makes sense. There is no "one two punch" with Sentinels unfortunately. I can lock up a Vicky robot on a Blaster with two holds and burn it down fast. Never happen on a Sent.

I actually dug deep into MiDs today and built a solid Dark Invul Sentinel. Took a bit but the Defense values are softcap across most damage types. That and being able to slip and slide away from combat should do well. I wanted Willpower but the build would not tighten up at all. I found a 50d Dark/Invul Sent on a back page of alts and Respecced. Alpha was open but no incarnate slots. Looks like I farmed it and shelved it with no play. This Halloween season seems right to see how it runs

I think the disappearance of the line is a layout issue. I can use it by clicking in the area and knowing what the power is. Looks like it does not realize hiw much screen is available and is just crammed itself up in there

But Brutes damage output is much closer to Scrappers. Which brings us full circle to the real issue. With Going Rogue and mixing RED/Blue The parallel games collided and the endless discussions of rebalancing and various nerfs and buffs happened. Brutes will never play the way they once did. The one tire is flat and I think there is a coolant leak. The current Dev team (in my opinion) is much more interested at writing end game content (and are doing a great job, incredible if you realize how little resources they have) and (it seems to me, unfortunately) trying to streamline the games ATs. Brutes are not streamlined. They are the A10 Warthog of the game. Good at one job and that is it. A job the current Devs do not see valuable, and are actively writing content that the Brute is crappy at. (They did not start that, unavoidable damage patches did) They are continuing the trend though. Heavy melee is less and less valuable. The modern game needs one or possibly two tanks, a ton of ranged DPS, and some buffers/debuffers/healers. Control is useless except somewhat randomly where it is absolutely required.

My old MiDs would not fully open so i downloaded the new mids. Which did a download of a new something program to allow it I guess. Then I opened it and everything mostly seems fine. Except....If i try a new build it truncates the first two powers off Primary and secondary with no way to scroll up. it also does not export files the way i am used to, Export, include data chunk. that causes an "unexpected" error. Arent they always? Is that a necessary description?

erm, you wanted a stalker. sorry. i never completed that build. this is the brute. damned i am fighting mids. or i would slap something together for you. basically take the Hyperstrike invul template and then feather in some winters, purps, etc https://www.midsreborn.com/builds/download.php?uc=1389&c=579&a=1158&f=HEX&dc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

just downloaded the new mids it is....well, either i am getting much worse or it is a piece of shit. here is the file hope it opens. its a beast DM Invul Team v3.0.mxd

A gentle weeping, building to a veritable rainfall of tears, sobbing, turning, evolving into body shaking hysterical laughter.

In my opinion. Ahem, the long ago great Fury nerf of Brutes was a tragic mistake As I recall, there were accusations, spreadsheets, data, that Brutes could out damage Scrappers at full Fury. If I remember (and it is vague) some Brutes with specific attack sets and combos once in a while might do it. But the damage to the Scrapper ego had been done. There were spreadsheets after all And so, the great Fury nerf was decreed. Interestingly while the Devs nerf batted the crap out of Brutes they adjusted Fury decay to be pretty much inconsequential. There in lies the seeds of the tragedy as it has been ever since You see, it used to take a certain playstyle to be the Brute. You had to cannonball mobs, always dancing with as much damage as your AT could handle to slingshot that damage back at your enemies. With the Fury decay nominal you could play like you were sipping tea and contemplating large strategies before deciding whether to await your team, go to another floor, read a book, whatever. Your revved up damage meter was mot going down, nor up for that matter. This made Brutes much more boring As a last laugh. This made Scrappers less desirable than they were. Sure, Brutes do less damage than a Scrapper. But they really always did. Not by much, but generally less. After change, still generally less. Now with less mercurial swings and a more attractive playstyle to those who might have rolled a Scrapper. While being more survivable. Ka-ching Basically, In my opinion, the change made Brutes more boring for Brute players and more attractive for people wanting a melee damage dealer without being stuck on a particular AT. A tragedy all the way around. And the trees were all kept equal. With hatchet, axe, and saw.

That would be considered a buff *checks notes carefully nope, Brutes never get buffs. It’s in the core game rules

My old brain knew the meaning of masks but I was coming up blank. Thanks for the history lesson folks. Part of life where you have forgotten more than some people know I suppose. Tough being an old vampire. Well, no sense feeling sorry for myself. Time to kidnap some Paragon city civilians for experiments by Vahzilok.

Generally speaking pushing Willpowers health is of great importance, as well as Defense numbers. Softcap S/L, always pick sets that give extra HP, and then other defense numbers would be my priority list. Resists are less valuable in this configuration. Def>Res>Heal. Your Heal is a buttload of Regen backed up by Siphon Life and you need to lean into those Defense numbers as a front line fighter. So Resists are easily a third (or even fourth…global rech always helps) build priority

There is a penalty for studying a game too thoroughly. One of the reasons I have not obsessed on chess theory. It ruins the game. Not saying I am a Gary Kasparov, but he famously hated the game after he “learned it”. That can be true in City of X where knowing what is “best” precludes choices until you paint yourself into the same corners repeatedly Now take my main undead concept, which I have been evolving from Vampire to Lich in the backstory. I am starting to lean i to this either being a Invul/Dark Tank (yawn) or a Dark/Invul Sentinel (interesting) but have become open to it possibly being another “squishy” as well. After all an Incarnate Troller is “invulnerable” to low level mons and would fit the concept fine. Although something with a self rez (no enemies around either) would be very appropriate What do you folks do when writing up characters? Backstory first or game knowledge first?

I use the “taking pictures” a lot on respecs and when building a new toon so certain powers occupy the same button. Muscle memory is real. How (why?) you get by without MiDs baffles and disturbs me. Carry on and enjoy

Well I cannot remember hardly anything and I play. I get lost in a lot of missions. But the game is still fun. So even if you do not know or cannot remember I would say just charge ahead. Stick with the group and enjoy.