Gulbasaur

On the first CoH-CoV crossover, before Going Rogue, there was a mission where you had to have members of both sides. I was playing a Peacebringer at the time, and a villain sent me a tell asking How did you do that? after I shifted into Dwarf form. Anyway... I really enjoyed getting all the exploration badges. The game has some really good scenery and exploring is a game in and of itself.

You almost got away with it, but I cracked the code. Looking forward to learning more.

From experience of a storm/water defender, the chaos is easier to tame than you think. It doesn't really benefit beige tank and spank gameplay, but you generate so much aggro that you can tank quite sustainably yourself anyway. Embrace the chaos!

I'll second the "roll a defender" suggestion - the stronger stacking -res debuffs on a defender will quickly outweigh personal damage and Scourge bonuses in teams, and the defender inherent gives you a damage bonus solo that pushes them into roughly even territory. Sonic blast generally suffers because it's quite hard to add procs into for extra damage, outside of the AoE attacks, but the higher -res on a defender is definitely worth making the switch.

Sonic as a set was likely designed for defenders (and corruptors in beta - reskinned versions are used by the Goldbrickers) - it came out as a pair with the support set. It's secretly a support set in the same way that storm summoning is secretly a control/DPS set and time manipulation is secretly a tanking set. It's one of those "yeah, but" sets. It's held back even more by the lack of IO opportunities; its debuff gimmick is -Res, which doesn't have as many slotting options as something like -ToHit or -Def so it's also a casualty of the Power Creep Wars. It's certainly one I'd like to see given a revamp (maybe some more soft control?), or at least some better proc opportunities, alongside Kheldians, whose niche of "ranged tank" has been filled out by anyone with enough inf to pay for the privelege.

I'll second this one - it's one tip I go in assuming it'll be broken.

Mind and its monstrous lovechild fortunata training are absurdly good at aggro control. It depends on what people mean by tanking, though - scooping people up into a neat pile for AoEs or holding down three groups at once and keeping their focus off your teammates. Personally, I find the latter playstyle more fun, but others may vary. I do enjoy a tanker set with soft control, though.

From experience: Rad/rad- a varied, engaging and well-performing set. Rad armour is quite clicky a with high highs and "oh no" lows. Has an ally heal, which you can turn into a small nuke with procs. Dark/dark - perfect synergy with a few fairly unique powers plus it has two control powers built in, which means you actively protect your allies with a mez auras. It haemorrhages endurance, though. Shield/whatever - a bit clicky but has some unusual tricks like a defence aura and a teleport attack. Kheldians: Dwarf form holds aggro about as well as a brute and has very high resists from a fairly low level. At later levels, you can basically keep those resists while in full DPS mode. Not always efficient but always fun. Time defender - debuffs are an aggro magnet and you've got a lot of them. Surprisingly sturdy, Time is an armour set in disguise. Storm defender - it can't hurt you if it can't stand up. Solid auras make you a very decent tank. Personal favourite tank: fortunata with that power pool taunt. Lots of defence, enough resists, mez protection, confuse, holds, knockdowns and nukes. The only players I can't pull aggro off are tankers and brutes, but they can hold floor aggro while I deal with the AV.

Yeah, but that's one specific bit of endgame content designed for groups, and what's life without an element of risk? I have tanked ITF on my fortnata, incidentally, but that was on a team mostly made of defenders and corruptors so we obliterated everything anyway.

I mean, Dwarf Form is available at level 20 and gives you significant mez protection.

I completely admit to reaching a point of Praetoria Fatigue by that stage. There are a lot of good story arcs that have no connection to chronological order. I get why, as it would otherwise mean everything is stacked at the end, but it also makes levelling a bit of a mess.

100% agree - Scourge doesn't benefit it meaningfully, plus freezing rain and hurricane coming much earlier means that a Defender is "ready to go" much earlier than on a Corruptor. Obviously, if you're levelling slowly that's more of an issue, but I found that levelling a storm/water defender was pretty painless, playing more like a soft-control dominator than a support spec per se.

Yep, happened to me and my ex once. We accidenatlly invaded someone else's mission. I can't remember the details exactly, but we ended up having to trek back from the Hollows.

As someone who has mained a fortunata for... a while... I'd 1- or 2-slot Confuse. Spin is pretty useful. I find TD is much more situational than Confuse, but obviously playstyles do differ.

Short answer: It's, like, really good. Long answer: @Bopper, I know you're a stats guru and that's a-okay. You have shown repeatedly that this approach is of value to the the game and the game's community through the detail-focused work you've done and for I am appreciative. However, we also quantitative data; it is, after all, a game one plays primarily for fun, which is a qualitative, subjective experience. I think Confuse is one of the most valuable status effects both in terms of offensive and defensive possibilities, albeit one with a learning curve. There is a game-within-a-game of knowing which enemies can help you, and flipping that switch. Knives of Artemis and their caltop fandango? Not a problem. Sappers? They can sap someone else. Nemnems' warhulks who go boom on death? If you confuse them, they don't go boom at your teammates. Ritki and Sky Raiders bubble you up. Ritki guardians can RA you. Back Alley Brawler is a very useful sidekick when you want to take down Manticore. It adds the right kind of challenge and the right kind of chaos to gameplay. The single-target Confuse is also a one-slot wonder, in my opinion. It's also no-notify, so even if it misses you can use it again as it has a very low cooldown and a very long duration. You can start fights with bosses on your side. I think AoC gets a total of two slots on my build and I have taken to skipping TD totally. Also, from a purely quantitative point of view, compare the base durations: Total Domination has a 240 sec cooldown and a 10.7 base duration whereas Aura of Confusion has the same base cooldown but a 26.8 second duration - it's much better mez for your money (using City of Data figures).

Apex/Tin Mage II is two separate task forces that are typically run as a pair. I think that's what they mean.

I can't remember who said it, but someone once talked about how someone stealthed to the end of the last mission in the Imperious task force and tried to TTP everyone to the end even though it was made clear from the start that they weren't doing that. She TTP'd everyone back and that is a thing of beauty in and of itself.

There's only about a 5-level period where there's no Praetorian content. After Night Ward, you've got the old AV arcs, and then most of the incarnate trials are Praetorian. It's actually quite hard to not do Praetorian content when you get to the top end. That said, I would love another Task Force and I'd love to see a continuation of the Wards storyline. I liked the wartorn feel there - it's a nice contrast to the "parks and rectangles" of Paragon City and the "shanty town around an evil lair" of the Rogue Isles. Someone above mentioned having an Underground to the Wards - Night Ward is literally a crossover of the Netherworld and the land of the living - I'd love to see what happened on the other side. I'd be really against ambush mitigation - I think any push to make the game easier isn't a good thing. The ambushes are a hallmark of the early goldside missions and making them homogenised would be a bad thing as this game already has a problem with a lack of difficulty, particularly now that IOs are about 10% of the cost that they were on Live. Why not just remove all minions from missions? Why not just set every mission to autocomplete?

Thunderspy has always been quite driven to be the first to X (after the Sanctuary, which could be a bit too bleeding-edge for some people) and I like the focus on innovation. There has definitely been a sea change in Thunderspy in the last year - they took on a trans dev (or GM? not sure) as part of their team and when some idiot people took issue with this, a lot of the chan neckbeard die-hards either left in protest or were asked to leave because while it is broadly unmoderated, they do not tolerate personal attacks and there's a difference between "banter" and attacking someone's right to exist. The vitriol that used to flow out of it is largely a thing of the past. It'd be nice to see some inter-server work... like a cultural exchange kinda thing. I realise that's unlikely, but I've seen it work out in other gaming communities where collaboration can really help everyone involved. Rebirth's guardians look excellent (similar to the EATs but with more choice) and the idea of Thunderspy's melee defenders is right up my alley. Thunderspy filled out the enemy level lists so that all contacts can be done at any level without being locked into task force mode via Ouro. There's a lot of good stuff out there and I'd love it if more good work like that was shared, although I appreciate that people have a right to decide who they share their work with.

I'll second dark - the debuffs are decent and make your life easier as a healer. Mind is good if you don't like pets (I don't like pets) and is excellent for small teams because that sleep lets you knock down enemies one by one. Gravity is a set you have to be somewhat careful with as some of the powers can annoy people, but it has a ton of utility if you use it well and is quite blasty for a control set.

I almost exclusively play matched sets or nearly-matched sets. Both my dark/dark corruptor and dark/dark tanker were a lot of fun. The corruptor has solid -ToHit so felt sturdy and could heal through quite a lot, as well as doing respectable damage. It also gets a pet as its T9, and that pet has basically the same support powers as you so it goes from good to very good. The tanker is tough, although needed a bit of building. I like that dark armour has control auras so you actually don't need to build that much that early as they basically make minions irrelevant while the damage aura chips away at them. My rad/rad brute (and stalker) were fun. Rad melee feels like it lacks crunch visually but is a solid set and rad armour is basically Regen with Resistances. It also has a lot of proc-friendly powers and you can build it into an off-healer if you really want to (or give it a blaster-worthy nuke if you don't). Storm/water defender is another one I enjoyed - not exactly matched, but as near as. Water blast is one of the better blast sets for sustain as you've got a heal and a lot of knockdown for soft control and storm is just pure oppressive chaos. Storm summoning possibly wins the award for Most Broken Support Set when you start adding in a lot of recharge, because it has three powers that look situational by design, but you can stack them quite happily with some IO abuse. At about level 30 it goes from debuffs and blasts to owning half the room. Dual Pistols/Devices and Traps/Beam Rifle were both fun but I found DP a bit lacklustre and the animations are a bit too much for me. I know it's meant to feel like gun kata like in Equilibrium or other films of that era, but it makes me think of that Baton Twirling woman in Miss Congeniality. Honestly, add on a hoola hoop and you've got yourself a cabaret show powerset. BR, on the other hand, is simple but effective and doesn't go for overly flashy, even if it does sound a bit like a 90s printer having a meltdown.

I disagree with this judgment - Mind it outstanding solo and in small groups where you aren't all completely overpowered. It plays like a fairly defensive blast set with utility from Confuse. That forcefield generator? Mine now. Ritki guardians with AoE buffs? Yes, I'll have one of those. No healer? I'll grab that surgeon in Cimerora. Longbow wardens bothering you with singularity? Confuse the warden and the pet will turn on them. Tsoo sorcerer? A bit annoying because they teleport away, but they're good at coming back to heal you. The AoE confuse is a complete game-changer, and the XP tax is less of an issue when you consider how easy it is to outlevel content by accident and it allows you do level faster (because enemies are damage each other), with no debt (because nobody is even trying to hit you). Telekinesis is underwhelming because it's much too situationally useful and has a colossal endurance cost, but my only real complaint about Mind is that Fear and Confuse don't trigger Containment. It's my favourite control set by a long way. Nice guide, though!

I'm slow-levelling a grav/time controller solo and the knockback/knockup is absolutely worth it - it allows you to get an extra attack in while the enemy is still ragdolling in mid-air. I'd put my controller's ability to not die down to his debuffs as much as the mezzes. -recharge is surprisingly overpowered at low-mid levels.

They stack. So, if you use a +3 mag hold then a +2 mag hold, you now have a +5 mag hold effect on that enemy. It doesn't matter where they come from - single targe, AoE, different casters etc - it's the magnitude on the target that matters. To mez a target, you have to get a higher magnitude stack than their protection - bosses have a default protection of 3. If I cast a mag 3 hold on a boss, nothing happens because 3 isn't more than 3. If I throw another mag 3 hold (or someone else does, or I cast a Mag 2 hold or something), the boss is held. You have to get higher than their protection stat. The second stat that impacts this is their resistance - if an enemy has mez resistance, it makes it wear off faster. Some enemies have higher mez protection than normal and some have specific strengths. Nemesis enemies tend to have good confuse and fear protection, for example. Knockback works a bit differently - protection and resistance can both reduce it to knockdown or ignore it completely. If you increase the magnitude, targets get thrown further.

Yeah... mapserver errors, powercuts, floods, random acts of sasquatch... anything totally out of your control and not related to gameplay doesn't count.