Helping an indecisive friend

[Valkoinen Shiro]

Hello, I'm the indecisive friend. Think of me like an altoholic except stuck at character creation.

 

TL;DR tell me what's your go-to character for solo, team and/or higher-difficulty play. I need some inspiration to get me out of this.

 

Alright a bit more seriously, friends (~3) of mine were interested in this game and while I haven't really played past the early levels in ~15+ years, I keep tabs on some of these fan projects out of nostalgia.
Long story short, I'm sure they'll be fine messing in character creation building something.
The problem, as usual, is me! I cannot decide on what I want. I do have some ideas, but the moment I finish a character I just end up looking at more!

 

While we'll likely be playing together, I'll probably end up doing things solo as well. Maybe I'll end up playing another character entirely, but for now I'm looking for something that can work both in solo and teams, and that can handle itself in the higher difficulties.
Speaking of, I'm not particularly interested in fine-tweaking a build for the biggest stuff, I believe the term is Arch Villains, AV, and/or the raid-like bosses; I'm mainly looking at just the +4/+8 notoriety, the more difficult missions later on and being viable in group content at max level. Though by the time I reach whatever the endgame is now I'll probably have a few characters.

 

I'm sure there's some min-maxing to be done, I've already started looking around some builds for inspiration (that's part of my jam), but I'm not planning on doing the best, or most meta thing.
For now I want inspiration. I want something to "click". While I have ideas, things aren't working so I'd like yours.

What do you play when you team up, and why don't you play it solo?
What's your comfort build that lets you breeze through general content?

What do you enjoy seeing in a group that isn't a dedicated support?

Have you, or have you seen someone do incredible stuff with a powerset?

Feel free to add on to this, I'd love to read about your characters!

[The Trouble]

Firstly, welcome home!

 

I'm addicted to alts, but I have stuck with a handful of them all the way through 50 and beyond.  As for your questions:

11 hours ago, Valkoinen Shiro said:

What do you play when you team up, and why don't you play it solo?
What's your comfort build that lets you breeze through general content?

What do you enjoy seeing in a group that isn't a dedicated support?

Have you, or have you seen someone do incredible stuff with a powerset?

I do solo and teaming with all of my characters.

I usually turn to Tankers (no specific build) when I want to survive everything.

The best thing to see in a group is someone who pays attention to what the leader says... I rarely celebrate seeing powersets, but players.

I have a handful of builds that do exactly what I wanted them to do: ultra-high recharge, immunity to slow, capped res/def, permanent this-and-that.

 

I realize most of these answers aren't helpful in guiding you to a concept that speaks to you.  What makes or breaks a character for me is the concept.  I'll come up with a name, theme, or costume first.  I'm already excited about the character by the time they're running around in the game.

 

So I don't see any harm in you making multiple characters because eventually one is going to be just right.  You'll discover some kind of synergy that'll motivate you to log in as them every time you look at the character selection screen.

 

[Six-Six]

 

13 hours ago, Valkoinen Shiro said:

The problem, as usual, is me! I cannot decide on what I want. I do have some ideas, but the moment I finish a character I just end up looking at more!

Haha, embrace it. you have 1000 character slots PER SHARD... that's like 8000 total for all. I myself took a while to realise there was ANOTHER game AFTER character creation. Sometimes, I would cough up different concepts (costume + power sets + back story); some would even be duplicate power sets while others were "fine-tuning" of a certain concept through it's power set/ power picks. for example, I recently rolled a plant/nature controller. but around level 30ish, I felt plant/poison suited the toon better. When that happens, sometimes I shelf the toon for later playing. or I just strip them of resources and delete them, especially if they inherit the costume + back story. other times, I enjoy a power set combination too much that I make a duplicate set with a different costume + story (e.g. Dual Pistols/Ninja Blaster--I have 3). Concept is king.
 

 

14 hours ago, Valkoinen Shiro said:

While we'll likely be playing together, I'll probably end up doing things solo as well. Maybe I'll end up playing another character entirely, but for now I'm looking for something that can work both in solo and teams, and that can handle itself in the higher difficulties.
Speaking of, I'm not particularly interested in fine-tweaking a build for the biggest stuff, I believe the term is Arch Villains, AV, and/or the raid-like bosses; I'm mainly looking at just the +4/+8 notoriety, the more difficult missions later on and being viable in group content at max level. Though by the time I reach whatever the endgame is now I'll probably have a few characters.

I think every character possible can be played solo to a reasonable difficulty. 98% of my toons are loners and a few dozen of them are already incarnates. a handful have even completed the Hardcore Permadeath challenge. That said, a decent group of 4 would be able to handle almost all +4x8 TFs with an AV. It's not so much your choice of powers, but how well your team gels and how good you strategise. And how awesome your costume is.

 

 

14 hours ago, Valkoinen Shiro said:

I'm sure there's some min-maxing to be done, I've already started looking around some builds for inspiration (that's part of my jam), but I'm not planning on doing the best, or most meta thing.

tried min-maxing, tried going meta... didn't like it. these days, my builds are mostly SOs plus a few procs. I think a build is an intimate thing. there is no one way to slot, and there is no wrong way too. moreover, you can get creative and thematic with the slotting regarding IO names (e.g., my elec toons slot Thunderstrike, but not Detonation or Bombardment like my Ass rifle toons). 

 

What do you play when you team up, and why don't you play it solo?
I only team up for leagues and certain task/strike forces. While I can arguably handle any TF alone given a few hours and a crap-tonne of patience, I think playing with others is also fun... sometimes.

What's your comfort build that lets you breeze through general content?
SOs until 40. SO numerical benefits far surpass IOs until 37ish. only then do I slot sets if I'm chasing set bonuses. other than that, a few procs here and there depending on drops and what the toon can afford. speaking of, inf might be hard at the start, but towards the higher level, they're practically throwing inf at you. I have over a billion just sitting in my email because of this. I can get more, but I don't find the market game too engaging for my personal taste.
 

What do you enjoy seeing in a group that isn't a dedicated support?

Spiders. Crab, Wolf, Huntsman, Bane. Two of those on your team, and you're nigh invincible... unless they suck.
 

Have you, or have you seen someone do incredible stuff with a powerset?
Definitely. I don't play melee as much, just a personal preference. But I've witnessed incredible feats done by Tanks and Brutes while on a TF. I'll never forget an off-tank brute saving the tank with like 2HP left with a perfectly timed taunt. Another time, our team of 5 felt indestructable because of an MM's brilliant heals and buffs-- he/she probably saw us as his pets. and on one occasion, some bloke with Black Hole slowly moved Hami out of the way so the team could attack it without attacking/being attacked by the mitocondria(???) baby hamis. I could go on. but my point is, some people are truly capable of fascinating feats, and it's a joy to witness it yourself... or accomplish it yourself.
 

Feel free to add on to this, I'd love to read about your characters!
Don't get me started. what I will share is that I learned the game with a Sentinel. once I was comfortable with the game mechanics, I upgraded to spiders (sentinel on steriods and brainwashing). then I branched out to Brutes and Blasters. I took a liking to ranged, but didn't like how it was rather "unrealistic" that I couldn't punch as much as I zapped. tried my hand feeble brain to be a mastermind and peacebringer -- MMs were fun, PBs and WSs I was limited to human only... brain couldn't compute. and now I've taken a liking to doms and trollers. that doesn't mean I have a whole stable of each of the other ATs, some at 1, some at 20ish. and some are duplicates and some are for the sake of the concept, only to be played in my head.

I like the grind more than the endgame, which I think is too OP. So I tend to gimp my toons... (like a setless and petless MM--which incidentally has forced me to become a better player, or at least I'd like to think so). and after I ran my first hardcore permadeath challenge toon, all my toons have been permadeath... unless the concept is too good or too fun to kill off. I found that the threat of death is the fun part. And that concept is king.

 

[Troo]

Corruptor, Stalker or VEAT are likely you best bets.

 

Here are some suggestions that can be effective teaming or solo without having to invest too heavily.

Corruptor: Fire & Ice are solid primaries. Dark & Kin are solid secondaries. Very well rounded, good team or solo characters. Fire/Dark would be my suggestion.

Stalker: Energy Melee paired with the armor of your choosing. Take Placate for soloing. Elec/Shield is an AoE gift as some of the teleporting AoEs don't break Hide.

[Valkoinen Shiro]

Thanks everyone, while I'm sure I'll keep making random level 1s I think I have a few good ideas.

Outside of trying out most MM primaries, I think I'll want to level an Invul/ tanker and a /Kin (maybe, depends if some MM /kin shows up) corruptor for now.

I remember playing a Widow back on live and I may want to give it another go (or try out a Soldier) but for now I'll try to stick to switching between a melee and a ranged character as I mess around leveling.

[JJDrakken]

VEAT, Sentinel, & Corrupter are my suggestion

[Amp Up]

Elec/psi sentinel is amazing. Everything stands around helpless as you kill them.