Snarky

I love SS/WP Brutes. When they came out Redside they were the answer to all my issues. Having said that, the game is older now. Just my 2 inf here. With an (Expensive!) Hyperstrike build, a SS/Invul will do everything a SS/Will Brute will do, and a lot more. Whatever your long term goals, have fun.

I run a Blaster that dislikes teammates using KB. If you want to change this statement to "The problem is always with those playing CHARACTERS WHO DO NOT WANT ENEMIES THEY ARE FIGHTING TO BE YEETED that don't want other people's charaacters to use YEETING powers" I think it would be more accurate.

why do you hate me?

This is how I run a Fire Blaster. Even with teams that know me I shock them. Justice Superteamers were running a kill most +2 Posi1 last night. Very smooth. We get to the Simulcrum end fight. I hear them talking tactics and strategy on Discord. i say nothing. i eat 4 med purp and 5 med red inspirations and calmly walk right into the group and start what AoE I have at that level. I think the team was discussing if we should pull or focus on one guy. It was probably a great idea. We killed them all, we had one death (someone got veng) and i had a few seconds left on my inspirations for the side room. Fire Blasting. "All you need is damage, damage is all you need."

if you want it to be, it is yours! I posted in a thread about Knockback what I think about Knockback. Funny thing about Art....(and true) all art is nothing more than shapes and colors and forms. If it means something to someone, if it communicates (especially evoking emotions) then it is Art. Did this evoke anything for you? Amusement? Anger? The vague notion Snarky might be drinking a bad batch of blood today?

I run with a group (Justice Superteamers Excelsior) and one of their weekly projects is "Huddle and Hurt" The theme is to "Fold Space" all foes into our group and AoE. Last night we did a posi 1&2, obviously we did not have those "later" powers as we were exemplared. So the two Tanks pulled rooms to the group. I bring this up because it is a popular, and VERY efficient, way to get through content. Especially kill alls. Knockback. Say it with me.... Knockback works completely against efficient AoE killing. Repeat that A) 100 times B) Until you understand it. Now, Knockback CAN be useful. You have control over enemies (ones that lack KB prot anyways...) Control over enemies is good. But control takes...control. You need to be using the KB to "play pool" with the enemies. You need to know where they will end up BEFORE you fire the attack. Is that where you want them? Does it make it easier? Could they go through a wall and F.. the mission? It is a very useful power when used correctly. But then you have a power that is situational and requires set up. Slower. Play how you want. Heck, you can Energy Blast Knockback crazy one of my Task Forces anytime you want. The forum loves stories about the crazy teams I run with. But if you want to be liked by your teammates? Learn how to use Knockback correctly. Heck, Fold Space can be used stupid (and is often) when the user takes all the enemies from the Mez/Dam AoE the team just spent all their powers laying down. I have seen it. That takes some level of stupid, but there are a lot of players that achieve this naturally. Using Knockback smartly is a much tougher game. Not impossible, but not "I am a Fire Blaster. I throw a Fireball" type easy. (ps...I mostly run a Fire Blaster these days. My butt is lazy.) If you are using Knockback, learn the thing you are using. Or do not learn it. Your choice. Have Fun!

yeah, i was wrong about the difference in dom/troll aoe. been a while since i levelled trollers. in my mind must have been comparing to something else. o well

yeah, Controllers AoE is bigger, and they tend to have more AoE control as well. Doms powers lean toward single target dps/mez with usually one big aoe hold. as you are on character creation screen click on any power, then click green "i" in upper right. gives you details on power...damage, area, etc.

Dominators, +side... Single Target Damage is decent/good. AoE is at least there. If not great. Crowd Control Mag stacks fast. "Domination power" is nice. Dominators -side... Domination power is a pony you gotta ride. It is a two minute timer constant manage click that if you perma dom is a constant attention sink. Perma Dom is EXPENSIVE, but most Dom players do it. Perma Dom defines your build goals. period. Controllers +side... FAT target areas. Like.... FAT FAT. Controllers do just that, they define the strategy and playing area. Also, really really good buffs/debuffs, which goes further to owning the enemy without doing DPS. Controllers -side.... no matter what anyone tells you these things do NO damage. On a fast moving team (common these days) the playing area keeps moving every 10 seconds and your FAT AoE controls are... back there.

These days (when not after “a badge”) I find tge thing i enjoy most is a team of old schoolers like Justice Superteamers or Sisterhood Friends doing a “kill most” whatever TF. These “murder hobo” smashing mission tactics are just hilarious. Is that “normal”???

You really expect me to remember a player i (purposefully) never identified 3 years later? I know vampires cannot die, but memories are linked to data. Data which when i wrote this 3 years ago i may have been hazy on (the player/alt name). How many people playing 3 years ago are playing now? Would that gift have extended or shortened their interest in the game. Better questions, and also ones unanswered based on our data

There is a “in game” example in the incarnate arc a 50. The 1st arc at 50 to get the one “shard”. (They should really change this to maybe an emp?) In the last mission you see tons of “echo” enemies.

Think HP Lovecraft Call of Cthulu creatures from beyond space and time eat toir mind/soul/body. Have fun!

Ice/ice Blasters are not only the most controlling Blaster (oh, those Single Target Holds!) but are one of the hardest hitting Single Target attack chains. They also play exclusively at range. Solving at least some of your concerns and suited to your ranged preference.

a beam rifle sent can sit at the edge of the madness and do serious grief to bosses/ebs/avs. Sent Beam/Will is a joy for this.

It is the essence of the trapped sadness of one person who thinks too much about things. And let me say, Thank you!

He uses cosmic council discord and has in game handle @Ukase

You might want to message Ukase. He loves stuff like this

Dark Invul Brutes are super cruise

i have taken range to the extreme with a build like AR/Dev with +range in set bonuses and alpha slot. this lengthens cones and provides safety. in my opinion this is the best value for building +range.

Big ones? Lord Recluse does a massive energy attack. This is pretty much his signature move. Not that anything he does is fun. Now energy defense will save you quite often, until it does not. I have tanked Recluse twice on Master runs using a Dark armor Brute. Dark armor is a res only set with minimal energy res. My Brute build has over 60% energy res, plus on fights like Recluse i have sorcery rune of Protection and inspiration. Used correctly it will work. Energy is the main danger. If you can stay up and recover from those you will prob be fine

yeah, i have it on my Fire^3 blaster. i tend to go fire balls out attack on him all the time, built for damage, relying on inspirations and timing. (and fast room clears) when i make a mistake in the formula ROTP saves my bacon.

Hedge posted the most important info. to summarize, exemping down to 30 provides no effect except the loss of a few later powers. exemping down to 10-15 is horrific if your build is not set up for it. if you plan to stay there a while (ouro challenge badges, ouro running of storylines for badges/fun) it can be worth it to make an alt build for this purpose, taking advantage of globals, procs, and the fact that even if a power is grayed out a global enhancer of the correct level in it still works. lot of purple/winter/pvp sets do not hurt either.

i am on a Fire^3 blaster a lot now. it is annoying to nuke nothing. but i just ignore most of the stuff now. even on my weekly pro discord team i have had spawns yoinked away. i just move to the action and work. keep in mind people are trying to also complete the task. they just maybe missed the fact that the most important player (ME, in case you are dense) is trying to do something really cool.