Returning Player, help me choose who to play

[Damoklese]

So im returning to the game after a few months away and im trying to decide which character to pick back up again.  I have cut the choices down to 6, but im not sure which I want to go with.  Was hoping some folks with experience with these powerset combos, or with something similar, could maybe give me their opinions on which ones they think are the best/most fun/most effective/etc..etc..

 

So Battle Beetle is an Electric/Electric Sentinel focused on endurance draining.

Illuminus is an illusion/Rad controller that I mostly built because hes supposed to be great at soloing bosses.  Not sure if I like rad all that much but he is effective.

Winter Crown is a Storm/Ice defender.. a creator of chaos.

Hell Crown is a Dark/Dark controller.. I like his concept and he seems pretty effective.

ForgeFather is a Fire/Time controller.. cause I love me some dwarves and some steampunk

MasterDruid is a Beast/Nature mastermind..  cause druids are cool.

 

So what yall think?  Which way should I go with this?

[Clave Dark 5]

Battle Beetle ------ Sentinels I understand are sturdy but unexciting, so I'll vote skip it; also a bit bored by simple distance pewpewpewing, but that might just be me.

Illuminus -------- never play something you don't want to.

Winter Crown-------------- Not great for solo maybe, but if you team, Defenders arlways work out unless you feel the need to be a major damage dealer.

Hell Crown -------------- You seem to like this one, so he's a definite maybe. (He looks pretty cool to me, too)

ForgeFather ------------------ Same.

MasterDruid ---------- Same, plus that's a good MM combo I understand.

 

So there's three.  Roll a six sided die with 1 or 2 being the first toon, 3 or 4 being the second and so on.  And pay attention to how you feel when the number comes up: if you feel some vague sense of disappointment that "it came up [this toon]," then that tells you you didn't really want to play them in the first place.

 

 

[Damoklese]

I feel like you have used the dice tactic before 😄  Thanks for the info

[Sovera]

I will be honest with you. The game currently does not have an exciting end-game content. That means we reach level 50, explore the game, do TFs, run arcs, and then try to find a reason to stay motivated to log on (spoken like a jaded veteran that has played the game for years).

 

Leveling new alts and combinations of doing things is a way to remain entertained. You have double XP to speed things up, you have 1000 character slots. There is no reason not to TRY ALL THE THINGS!

 

But since you've asked:

 

- Sentinels are great for the ego. You get to be ranged like most comic heroes and be sturdy just like them too. For a new player you won't even notice their damage isn't exciting, and as a new player it's better (IMO) to play a sturdy character that survives instead of something that keeps on faceplanting without careful babysitting. That said endurance draining is an advanced tactic that usually has all mobs killed before the endurance is actually drained. It makes that gimmick unfulfilling.

- Controllers are somewhat obsolete nowadays. They do not add much and in a team you may just find yourself not very helpful. Radiation is indeed a big boss killer but big boss killing is 3% of the game. Do you want to drag yourself over the other 97% with the concept? Illusion in particular is good at soloing once they have sunk several multiples of hundreds of millions of cash into a build which is not a newbie friendly proposal.

- Storm/Ice is great. You'll be having good fun with it and both helping and doing decent damage. Remember to visit the Defender forums and lift ideas on how to slot the character.

- Dark/Dark is pretty decent as well. The Dark Control side of things lets you boost the damage of the team, heal, CC mobs. You will be both useful and helpful.

- Another Controller. I've said my thoughts about it above. The only Controller I'd subscribe to is Plants/Kin since they can heal and boost the damage of the team making them useful while plants is pretty helpful at speeding things up with Seeds of Confusion. TOO good a combo tbh, it may turn you off to rarely even be at risk.

- Masterminds are a bit eh. They are great for new players since they avoid many of the things that make early game boring such as few attacks and endurance problems. The minions just keep on attacking regardless and all a MM needs to do is buff and heal them while debuffing the enemy. Later on they become a drag even with top dollar builds since the pets are sloooooow to follow between packs of enemies and become super squishy. This is more of an end game concern and you should definitely give them a try. Beast/Nature plays well together with the absorb shields and heals helping the squishy beasts.

 

 

What I did not see in your list is a meleer. Give them a try if you find something that pleases you. I personally recommend meleers (or Sentinels) for first players since they are much sturdier than their ranged brethren. They also can ignore crowd control effects such as stuns and knockbacks. I'm a staunch ranged only person, but CoH is the one game I always gravitate back to melee.

 

If you are new new check the guide on my signature for a bunch of tips, and while at it consider the Fire/Martial Arts tanker. The downside of that character is that you might come out with a skewed idea of how powerful characters are meant to be from the start, and then you try something else and see that nope 😜

 

Unlike other games Tankers don't have a stressful job here having to protect the team, juggle defensive cooldowns and memorize routes and boss mechanics. You are just a sturdier character than most and will be jumping into the thick of things first. That's about it.

[Grouchybeast]

I don't have opinions on those combos, I'm afraid, but I do love your costumes.

[UltraAlt]

I'll tell you a secret that some other players have pointed at and some other stuff that keep the game fun and engaging for me.

 

The game is level 1-50.

The end-game is what is tacked on to the end of the game. It isn't the game itself. It is added stuff for players that have finished playing the game. Hence, it is called "the end-game". It's what you do once the game has ended.

 

Play what is fun.

Who cares how efficient it is if you have fun playing it?

Maybe other players won't want to team with you. 

When it comes down to it, teams usually more concerned with filling than not.

 

Make your play experience different.

Play characters randomly.

PUG! Game with random players!

Every gaming experience is new.

You have to figure out your powers. You have to figure out how to work your powers with random teammates. Join someone else's PUG and who knows what kind of mission you'll be dragged into.

 

No lie. I like to create characters. Sometimes the fun is in trying to make characters based on my character conception. Sometimes I want to use some power sets and I figure out a character conception that makes sense to me for those powers.

 

It looks like you have fun ideas, I say play all of them. Give them all a shot. 

Stick with one if it's fun. 

Switch to another one when you feel it's time to take a break.

 

Have some high level, have some low level.

When  a team starts looking for more, switch to a character that fits the level range.

 

Did I say the most important part is to have fun?

Yeah, we game to have fun. Game to have fun.

Edited March 1, 2021 by UltraAlt

[Mahomes]

I decided to try powersets I never really played on live and fell in love.

[golstat2003]

Masterminds have always been tough for me to keep with it. 

[Riverdusk]

Shorter version of what some others have already said:

 

Play all of them.

[TheOtherTed]

On 3/1/2021 at 4:10 AM, Damoklese said:

Winter Crown is a Storm/Ice defender.. a creator of chaos.

True chaos is an Illusion/Storm controller.

[StriderIV]

Can I just give you some credit for your character designs? They all look AWESOME. Well done man.

[Rathulfr]

18 hours ago, Riverdusk said:

Shorter version of what some others have already said:

 

Play all of them.