ExeErdna

The "villains" side for the area, Family, Skyraiders, Freakshow, Tsoo and "hero" side Outcasts, Hellions, Skulls, Longbow. Yet isn't this gonna be like a zone that'll have BOTH papers and radios? So we have like a spread of all enemy types? Maybe toss into some more exclusive enemies like Cage, Goldbrickers and PPD

All the Grav/Kin Primas then the Heavys hitting you with -regen. Love that mob type it keeps you on your toes that you just can't run head long. You have to respect them

True yet for me they kinda end up like Carnies I just Arachnos has BIG spawns with some of the most wild ass spawns it's why I like them and Longbow so much +8 anything is dangerous due to the sheer number and LB's have a habit of ambush triggers.

I have one personally you're a melee ranged character you can legit sit and lockdown mobs because you don't need to do damage. You got the best sleep in the game, a really good confusion, a hold aura that synergies with your end drain aura. A TAOE hold that can be proc'ed up for solid damage a nasty PBAOE hold that kills regen. Personally you gotta make a choice of not taking the rez and fallout because overall you don't have enough slot personally to keep it. You want to go Mu for a bit more damage from Ball Lightning and grab that Power Sink and only use it after an EM Pulse. You are basically the best sapper you don't hurt much yet you'll make a lot of encounters for others a breeze you have great debuffs and a assortment of control options to prevent the group and yourself from get overwhelmed. Gameplay wise I normally start off with Static field and then go into Synaptic Overload then you throw down the toggled debuffs and save Lingering Radiation for AV's or really tough mobs. Yet IF you feel bold enough you run head long into a mob EM Pulse then wait 5 sec then Power Sink and the mob should be gone or nearly by time the PS animation is done. I don't use Chain Fences as much due to the sleep and confusion are more useful then I still run into mobs and let my holds do a lot of heavy lifting. I found myself using jolting chain for the knockdown then sitting on them to hold them which allows me to do anything else or allow my team to do anything they want. Also this is not a hover in the back kinda character due to your auras you're kinda shadowing the tank or melee characters. You can help them by having your Radiant Aura auto firing and Accelerated Metabolism at the ready also.

From my time playing sometimes it DOES feel like you're a bit too strong. Like some +4/8 mobs are a complete joke compared to how they were when you was much weaker. Like Ruin Mages and Luminous Eidolons early game are the worse thing to run into. Late game people have issue with Malta and Carnies when personally the best mobs to fight late game are Longbow, Family and Vanguard since they can mess up a good team depending on the spawns and aggro management. Some mobs just don't have a fear factor like Longbow shreds your res and def. Get two Rad Warden spawns and nobody pays attention a squad might get wiped. To be real builds are supposed to be "broken" then teams that bounce off each other are unstoppable. Incarnate stuff DOES factor in it depends on what people have and if they use it. With my Spider Solder as a Huntsman I can deal with +3/8 solo with all the summons and the support hybrid and then use the rebirth destiny to fill the hole that I can't heal. I can handle +4 yet I'll rather have a faster TTK. The problem is like with most things once you get some cash, hamis, merits and tons of spare IO's, you're no long afraid. Until you get comfortable it's gonna be pretty bad and for some once they get comfortable they might get bored.

Playing around with tankers on the test server. To me I like WP/StJ the most "perfect" personally, the whole aesthetic of it is amazing.

Since you're Illusion, I'll maybe play around with Poison. Personally I would say Traps since you can poc caltrops to have -res.

From everything I've played I want to try Mind/Kin yet the most impressive for me is Plant/Time. Both are just really safe, powerful and are good no matter the level. I haven't made the character yet from playing my Plant/Poison and my Ice/Time. I'm like yeah Plant/Time is controller I can take to 50+

Personally I'll say Time works well with Ice. The auras in both are the same size and you get both before 10. The only problem this is a low DPS and a overall hot character end wise. Even with the IO's I normally used to stop the end drain on other character this one still feels the heat when I have to start clearing rooms without much downtime. Besides that Ice/Time is still great because you can just stand in most mobs and watch them get snared while the team kills them. Personally from what I played you'll like having Glacier in this setup because you're mainly gonna be in melee range basically hugging a tank. Don't get Shiver, Flash Freeze or Jack Frost. Yes don't get Jack it isn't worth the investment if you're gonna group put more investment into time. Now have 4 holds 3 of them come up pretty fast, Glacier is your slow one. A lot of snares, good healing, buffs/debuffs the problem is one thing you have to get use to you don't do damage. You're basically in the room to make sure the enemy has a very bad day. Then for late game either go Ice or Leviathan since Hibernate is gonna be your friend because they'll will be times when another mob or two sees you and start shooting you in group play. Just pop Hibernate and let the party catch up.

Yeah, I saw this on my Ice/Cold and I do have a spare node I can throw up there for lulz.

I'm giving this setup a try, it works well. The issue I see that people aren't playing SR as much it's not flashy until you're in the middle of hornet's nest of Longbow and nothing happens to you. Now my issue is the choice of Alphas since Agility works for the SR and Musculature works with Katana.

For me it'll be Traps my issue is that the bombs are overall useless. Easily the best thing about it is the Acid Mortar you can get enough recharge that having two out is pretty easy. The poison trap and shield generator are solid. The last two skills take too long to be useful which sucks yet what sucks even worse they do horrible damage for all that setup. Everything else about it is subjective. Triage beacon with Miracle slotted give you some recovery, Caltrops are never not bad yet if good groups or higher levels you're wasting time since they're blasting. Seeker Drones are janky I want them to be some sneaky stun yet how they both run into the same target and even with accuracy nothing happen it's easily skipped. I just wish now we can get a Toxic Web Grenade like Devices since I honestly forget it even exists even if it's solid tool for keeping runners in the same room. Since what I noticed with Traps that even AV will "nope" out of the room if they're caught with both the poison trap and an few pops from the acid mortar sometimes running quite far into to the area. I like Traps in spite of its serious jank at times since it's completely a support set. I prefer to pair it with Dual Pistols.