lack of empathy for empaths?

[EmperorSteele]

I just wanted to say congratulations!

[Unknown Magi]

Disclaimer #1: I have not read all 3 pages of this post.  

Disclaimer #2: I have long had a love of Empathy; back in the original Live days my main was an Emp/Psy defender, and an Emp defender was one of the first two characters I made again when I got to Homecoming.

 

So, I think a lot of people who pick up Empathy "Aren't Playing It Right (tm)", and as a result people have a natural distrust of the skill level of people who they see playing Empaths.  To put a little context around that statement...as some people early in the thread said, there is a long history of people making empathy characters and then doing things like going on follow and auto-firing Healing Aura and then afking, or taking nothing but heals and passive powers and standing around waiting to play life bar whack-a-mole.  So, when people see Empathy, and have dealt with a lot of those, they subconsciously make the connection of "this is gonna be another afk heal aura spammer who brings little/nothing else to the team" and the reactions you see are visceral.

 

While at first glance Empathy appears to be a healing set, it is in fact a buff set and needs to be played as such IMO.  In the era of Time/* defenders and */Time controllers, boosted Fortitude isn't as magical as it used to be, but it is still solid; Adrenaline Boost and Recovery Aura are great for all the people who haven't finished slotting their +recharge and end management yet, as well.  But the other side of the "don't play this like a healer" coin is that if the buffs are being kept up and things are going well, you don't have to spend much time using the actual heals so you can end up spending a lot more time focusing on your other set being proactive (in the OP's case, doing Illusion stuff more). 

[Crimson621]

Not replying to anyone in particular, but sharing some general thoughts.  As a longtime empath Defender -- a toon I played for the entirety of CoH's original run and my first on HC to hit 50 -- the dismissive, "it's only good in the early levels" attitude I often see on the board and over on reddit saddens me a bit.

 

I admit, I can't entirely deny it.  My other 50 is a spines/fire Brute and I sometimes dual box them.  Pains me to say it, but the empath in that case is a superfluity; Fortitude, Adrenaline Boost, stacked Leadership and the occasional Sniper shot are all nice to have, but the Brute functions just as well solo.  And so, on a team with one or more max-built, Incarnate powerhouses, an empath is unnecessary.  

 

What that overlooks, however, is that even at 50, not every player is a max-built, Incarnate powerhouse.  There are still plenty of casual players with sub-optimal builds on messy teams.  I'm on as many teams that shred my nerves trying to keep everyone alive as I am twiddling my thumbs because I have little to offer, and whole bunch that fall somewhere in between.

 

 

Edited December 12, 2020 by Crimson621
typo

[Rathulfr]

I'm going to get a lot of hate for this, but here goes anyway...

 

Rarely, just when I'm in the mood, I like playing an Emp/Rad Defender just to /follow the tank and /autoexec Healing Aura, with an occasional Fortitude or Clear Mind thrown in every now and then.  Yes, it's cheesy, but it's also pleasantly relaxing.  I get to chat more, read bios, enjoy teammates' costumes, and see how strong the scrapperlock still afflicts some players.

 

But I don't do it often, and I don't do it for TFs or iTrials or anything serious.  If the team is relaxed and willing to allow it, it's actually quite pleasant.

 

/em puts on asbestos spandex.  Flame on.

 

[Grimz]

Just now, Rathulfr said:

I'm going to get a lot of hate for this, but here goes anyway...

 

Rarely, just when I'm in the mood, I like playing an Emp/Rad Defender just to /follow the tank and /autoexec Healing Aura, with an occasional Fortitude or Clear Mind thrown in every now and then.  Yes, it's cheesy, but it's also pleasantly relaxing.  I get to chat more, read bios, enjoy teammates' costumes, and see how strong the scrapperlock still afflicts some players.

 

But I don't do it often, and I don't do it for TFs or iTrials or anything serious.  If the team is relaxed and willing to allow it, it's actually quite pleasant.

 

/em puts on asbestos spandex.  Flame on.

 

Hey, as long as you aren't hindering the enjoyment of others, play the game how ya wanna play it

[Clave Dark 5]

1 hour ago, Grimz said:

Hey, as long as you aren't hindering the enjoyment of others, play the game how ya wanna play it

I was just going to say that.

 

Ain't no thang, Rathulfr.

 

I've been soloing a stalker through red-side by myself, all solo, and the gentle rhythm of "walk up to target, BY, wait for AS, then do a little bit of fighting, then wait for Hide to come back, repeat" has been very pleasant.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Clave Dark 5
ETA

[Hew]

My experience with empathy started with my very first ever char in coh. an empath/dark defender. By the time I took fly?, fitness pool, everything in my primary, I had 2 attacks. The snipe, and something else that was low damage.

If I wasn't on a team, I was basically doing nothing and killing nothing. It was horridly unfun.

 

Maybe in the modern game empathy is more fun but, first char ever? Head start launch? That feeling of abject failure just never went away....

[Doomguide2005]

5 hours ago, Hew said:

My experience with empathy started with my very first ever char in coh. an empath/dark defender. By the time I took fly?, fitness pool, everything in my primary, I had 2 attacks. The snipe, and something else that was low damage.

If I wasn't on a team, I was basically doing nothing and killing nothing. It was horridly unfun.

 

Maybe in the modern game empathy is more fun but, first char ever? Head start launch? That feeling of abject failure just never went away....

Yeah, early issue solo was painful and early levels more so on a buff centric primary.  It has become a significant amount easier on all "squishies" with vet powers, p2w powers, early inherent Fitness and just general knowledge in the player base.  My first Empath (also Emp/Dark) languished a bit and eventually made 50 after 2 or 3 of my other Empaths had reached 50.

[TheSpiritFox]

On 11/15/2020 at 3:41 PM, 5099y_74c05 said:

Don't let that spoil your fun unless you are running a gimped build like a petless MM or something similar.

 

 

As an MM main I highly approve of Petless MMs being the one playstyle no one wants to deal with.