Extremely New Player (Never played CoH) looking for advice on build.

[Ironveil]

Hello, I want to start I'm really new to the game like the title says. I've scoured as much information I could find and understand to a point about CoH builds, but I feel like I'm lacking somewhere, here is a bit of information on my current build.

 

Server: Excelsior

Name: @Ironshade - Ignacio (Yes Nacho Libre)

Tanker

Level 11

Bio Armor - Hardened Carapace, Inexhaustible, Adaptation, Ablative Carapace (Heal/Absorb, Resist Def enhancements)

Savage Melee - Savage Strike, Shred (Damage enhancements)

 

I've been holding well up to this point hoping it just gets easier as I level more, but I keep getting completely destroyed or struggle with dps even in Offensive Adaptation and this makes me feel like I went wrong somewhere, I took this information from the Infinitum Build Collection. Although all I get is a .mbd file that I have no idea what to do with, so I've been reading it via Notepad, knowing some coding I can follow along, but even then its a hard struggle.

 

I know I'm low level, but PvE content is almost impossible to solo at this point, and I don't know what to provide as information to get help about, if I could get some advice on what I could be doing wrong would be great, I used this build from Infinitum because it was mentioned to be a build that can easily solo PvE content and I'm usually a solo player (no friends lol).

 

I hope this doesn't bother anyone, I being a pain and usually keep to myself and not bother people by searching information online, but I'm so lost at what I'm looking at for once in a MMO that I resorted to reaching out on the forums/chat help.

 

Sorry again if this is kind of useless or to be meme'd, if so I will delete this post asap so its not a bother to anyone.

Edited 15 hours ago by Ironveil

[BurnTheWitch]

First and foremost, welcome to your new home. 

• I'm not personally qualified to comment on most tanker builds, but Impervium's builds are no joke.
• The .mbd can be utilized it a 3rd party piece of software called Mids reborn.  Welcome to your second addiction!  It will allow you to build characters offline and many consider it a very worthwhile tool.
• My first big questions about the difficulty at level 11 are
  • Have you added any enhancements?  They make a difference but your a little low level for them to make a huge difference.
  • Have you done a DFB (death from below), it gives quite large early game bonus.
  • What questlines/ zones are you working through at present.  Frostfire can get hairy if you are new and there are for sure a few spots that I got hung up on when I came back.
• You are not bothering anyone.  This is without a doubt and appropriate forum for a really well thought out set of questions.

Server : Excelcior

Global Name: Witchcraft

 

Edited 14 hours ago by BurnTheWitch
Spelling is hard

[MonteCarla]

Hey Ironveil!
Welcome to the City!

Far from bothering anyone, there are lots of us here who love helping out new players. No-one gets meme'd here for asking questions. 🙂

 

Tankers take a while to mature. By the 30s you can consolidate your armor powers with slotting, and Tough from the Fighting pool, and be very hard to defeat.

In the lower levels, especially solo, you'll want to concentrate on building up your damage powers instead, since that's what finishes missions and gets you XP.

 

I've not much experience with Bio Armor or Savage Melee, but I've got some general advice:

 

Slot your powers with 1 accuracy and 3 damage if you can for these starter levels.

 

You can also boost your offensive power by talking to the START vendor in Atlas Park (on the left side as you're looking at Ms Liberty) and looking under Prestige Powers, and find "Sands of Mu" This is a multi-hit cone melee attack that will help get you through the lower levels when you only have a few attacks.

You can also get the Double XP booster from her if you're finding these low levels a grind to solo through.

 

Your next attack is Vicious Slash at 16. Maybe before then take Boxing or Kick from the Fighting Pool as a filler attack to keep swinging while your other attacks are on cool down. One of these is necessary to unlock Tough later, so its not a wasted pick at all.

 

[Ironveil]

Thanks, I'm currently a Warhammer Online refugee, and just for asking helping questions can land you in the meme world of being the laughing stock. I've noticed overall the community of Homecoming is fantastic! Literally never seen such a helping community before in all the MMO's I've played, and being around since the Ultima days means a lot.

 

@BurnTheWitch - I just downloaded Mids, and about to take a look at it, I figured it was for something but never found any information on how to use it, I was assuming it was to be placed in the CoH folder for something lol. So about the enhancements, I do have skills slotted, but I'm noticing the enhancements are a bit tricky getting used to and honestly, I don't even know if I'm slotting them right, for Hardened Carapace I'm placing Resist Damage, and Inexhaustible I'm placing Heal/Absorb, for the melee skills just Damage so far. I've noticed I out level the enhancements quite quickly and being too broke in influence to upgrade or (recently learned about combining) to combine them to level, which I don't mind being broke as I'll learn have to make influence properly eventually. I have ran DFB twice now, funny enough my literal first step from the tutorial into Atlas I was ran through it before even talking to Ms. Liberty, even after explaining to the group lead about being VERY new. I've only ran it twice..... I have a bit of a problem not feeling brave enough to run dungeons, I have some bad memories of being blamed in other MMO's for the failures (when it wasn't) and after years of it, that kind of stuck to me, but it's nothing more than me being socially awkward and with that being said I'm also the type being new I don't want to waste other peoples time by being the cause of failing if it happens, so I tend to wait.. but I wait too long every game. I'm also doing.. Uh honestly no idea, I just select a contact and roll with it.. Eagle Eye's questline currently, is there a proper method of contacts? I just kept following from when I first landed in Atlas and it leads me to my first contact.

 

@MonteCaria - Kind of like to BurnTheWitch.. I've just had some bad times with other MMO's I always feel like a bother to people. I have noticed my Damage skills miss quite a bit and thought about placing some Accuracy in them to help, Sands of Mu interesting I'll have to check that out once I get back to the Station (Travel RN). Yeah I've been thinking.. "Maybe it just takes time, maybe Tanks are slow early levels, like most MMO's.." but I keep hearing and seeing how good even low level tanks are, made me question things quite a bit. I just learned about the XP buff last night! I was running my second DFB when I saw everyone had the buff, and ask about it. I need to sit down and really look into the START vendor at everything. I'll look at Boxing or Kick when I level, maybe I just need to give it time overall, being REALLY new and fresh to the CoH mechanics the process will eventually come together.

 

Thanks for the answers! This really helped out a lot! Thank you, Thank you!

Edited 10 hours ago by Ironveil

[Maelwys]

4 hours ago, Ironveil said:

I hope this doesn't bother anyone, I being a pain and usually keep to myself and not bother people by searching information online, but I'm so lost at what I'm looking at for once in a MMO that I resorted to reaching out on the forums/chat help.

 

Sorry again if this is kind of useless or to be meme'd, if so I will delete this post asap so its not a bother to anyone.

 

Far from it. 

 

Hello, welcome, and be assured that (i) Folk are pretty friendly around here and (ii) The fact your first post uses more than two words and proper punctuation means you're automatically on everyone's Christmas Card list 😛

 

Since CoH has been around for decades there is a LOT of info to digest. If you have some free time, I'd recommend looking over a few guides like this and this and this and this, and just looking through the wiki.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/S.T.A.R.T. 

 

As the others have mentioned, visiting the START (previously known as P2W) vendor will help a lot. They hand out free starter enhancements and temporary powers (the Sands of Mu, Nemesis Staff and Blackwand are attacks that are extremely useful until you get a full attack chain; and the Jump Pack, Void Skiff, Inner Inspiration, Reveal and Return to Battle powers are excellent utility) and whenever you get some cash ("inf") you can return to purchase the various SG base and Mission Transporter teleportation powers.

 

Collect Exploration Badges. You'll get Merit rewards; which can be converted into Enhancement Boosters or Convertors which in turn can then be sold on the Auction House (type "/AH")  for good inf. As well as access to the Long Range Travel teleporter.

There's a very helpful add-on called Vidiotmaps that replaces the regular in game mini map tiles with versions that include badge locations etc.

 

 

 

 

The Excelsior server should have plenty of people around, and you'll occasionally see them summoning an orange-yellow patch on the floor. That's an Ouroboros portal. It gives you access to the "flashback" system that lets you repeat older mission arcs, but lots of people also use it as another fast travel ability. Go over and click on it and you'll get transported to a floating island (just click the portal behind you to return) and a copy of the summoning power for yourself.

 

Savage Melee is a very Endurance light powersets so you shouldn't have many issues keeping your blue bar looking healthy, but whenever you hit about level 25-30 you might want to start looking into some of the "Invention Origin" enhancements (AKA inventions). That's where the complex builds come in and why almost everyone here uses Mids Reborn to plan their character out... but there are a few choice enhancements that will be very useful in the lower and middle levels. So just ask.

 

Also... don't worry too much about the cost of everything on the AH - just by playing the game you'll collect plenty of Merits, Prismatic Aethers and rare Invention Salvage that can make you self financing, and at high levels the raw influence rewards you get from defeating enemies isn't half bad either. Also, lots of folk will happily hand out enhancements to new players if you ask for specific help rather than a generic inf handout (though even they're not uncommon!).

 

Edited 10 hours ago by Maelwys

[Maelwys]

50 minutes ago, Ironveil said:

So about the enhancements, I do have skills slotted, but I'm noticing the enhancements are a bit tricky getting used to and honestly, I don't even know if I'm slotting them right

 

Don't bother with anything other than the START or Single Origin enhancements until you reach level 22. 

 

At lower levels the typical recommendation is to slot 1-2x accuracy then  2x Damage plus 1x Endurance Reduction and 1-2x Recharge in each attack.

However Savage Melee has a mechanic which grants you global endurance reduction, so you can likely skip that one.

 

After you hit level 22, you can slot level 25 Inventions, these never degrade as you level up and are roughly the same performance as Single Origin enhancements. The Common ones are cheap to buy (especially if you buy the recipes and craft them yourself - there are no crafting skill level up mechanics or failures, all it takes is ingredients and standing beside a crafting table/workbench)

 

 

Quote

 I have some bad memories of being blamed in other MMO's for the failures (when it wasn't) and after years of it, that kind of stuck to me, but it's nothing more than me being socially awkward and with that being said I'm also the type being new I don't want to waste other peoples time by being the cause of failing if it happens, 

I've just had some bad times with other MMO's I always feel like a bother to people.

 

You may well get killed or even get someone else killed. That's part of MMO gameplay.

 

The difference here is that after being killed folk will just revive (typically buffed up and temporarily indestructible) or explode and then revive. Nobody ever levels down or loses gear from dying in CoH, the most that happens is you gain some experience points debt which nobody cares about (in fact there are accomplishment badges for working off exp debt, and certain damaging or buff abilities that can only be used after dying... so certain people will gleefully kill themselves)

 

There are some accomplishment badges that require Taskforces to be completed successfully without anyone on the team dying. But those taskforce attempts will typically be advertised as "Master of (whatever)" runs. Aside from that though? You won't annoy anyone in the slightest. On the contrary, tell your teammates you're new to the game and they'll likely make dying (AKA "faceplanting") into some kind of hilarious drinking game challenge. It's all light hearted fun.

 

Except for @Snarky . If he joins your team, do NOT let him Tank. Or entertain his requests to donate blood plasma or influence. And for the love of Rularu don't let him eat after midnight... he'll be up all night dancing on tables. Again.

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Maelwys

[Ironveil]

@Maelwys - So about Vidiotmaps I tried using the Mod Installer and thought I did it? but my minimap looks the same lol, I just assumed it was something I wouldn't really notice, but the way you are talking seems like it should be drastically different. Yeah I made it back to the Station and was able to pop on for a minute and look over the START vendor a little more in detail, I never really looked through everything, and found a few things to help.

 

Concerning the guides, yeah I read a few of them before bed, but none of them really made too much sense, I mean they do.. but what I'm referring to is CoH is completely different compared to most MMO's even those dated around the same time, reading it is like reading Greek for a new player, to a veteran it would make sense, I suppose I wish they was a laymen's terms for the REALLY new, not returning (people with experience, vets, etc) its quite a bit to grasp for someone like me, which there is nothing wrong with and fully understand why it was made the way it was - most of the CoH population played CoH at 1 point or another, I would say 98% I'm just sadly in that 2% lol. I'll take another round of reading them again to see if anything sticks, I mean the basic stuff does, but when it talks about the other stuff it tends to be a bit much, and its a lot of info for someone who is on-call 24/7 I tend to end up needing to get up in the middle of reading it and lose my concentration.

[Ironveil]

Single Origin? I kind of was given a bit of a rundown by someone in Help chat about the different origins, I'll just wiki it and the differences? in a bit. Sorry.. 

 

After reading everything so far, I have a bad feeling maybe I built wrong, I found to looooove Mid's Reborn, and looking at Infinitums build I was trying to follow.. yeah I feel like I messed up, honestly that is another problem I've found - There was really no concrete information on what is the easiest new player build to learn the game on, there are soooo many discussions on it, and they all were leaning different avenues. 

Edited 9 hours ago by Ironveil

[MonteCarla]

In the beginning, there were 5 origins (Science, Tech, Magic, Mutant, Natural) - that's still the case.

You started with Training Enhancements, which were 1/4 strength.

At level 12 you could start using Dual-Origins (DOs) appropriate to your origin type (eg Mutant/Magic, so you can only use them if your Origin is Mutant or Magic) which were 1/2 strength.

Then at level 22 you got Single Origin enhancements (SOs) - useable only by 1 origin type, which are full strength.

3 of these SO's will max out the stat, and there's very bad diminishing returns for adding a fourth. eg only slot 3 Damage SO's in each power. 4 is a waste.

 

These days you can get SO's (full strength) from Level 1, but they're a bit expensive. 

And yeah, your enhancements go off once they're 3 levels below your level, which really sucks IMO.

 

These days you can use Invention Origin Enhancements (IOs) which don't go off as you level.

Plain cheap IOs just act like normal enhancements, and are worth buying at level 22, when you can slot level 25 IOs.
Set IOs have set bonuses for stacking more than one in a single power, which is where the high-end building comes in. Worry about that later.

[Ironveil]

Oooooooh That is really clear - Thank you! I get it now. I was wondering why some were 1/4 strength compared to others being 1/2 strength.

 

Also yeah I've noticed my enhancements going off, I was reaaaaally stupid and some guy went around Atlas handing out 1mil influence to all the new players (I happened to be 1) well I decided to reroll eventually (I do that when I'm new, my first toon being the trial run at least until early levels).... I found out I had to email myself the influence for my other toon to use it....... well I didn't know it went Global Handle, and not character handle.... lets say someone named @Ignacio just got 950,000 lol. It's a hard lesson learned, but now I am struggling to keep things up, but from what I'm reading from ya'll so far I don't really need to worry, still hurt though lol.

Edited 9 hours ago by Ironveil

[MonteCarla]

No worries!

Here's how to make money for buying SO's and IO's, by the way.

 

You can get Reward Merits for finding all the exploration badges in a zone.

You can find them listed in wiki pages like here:
https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Atlas_Park#Exploration_Badges
and each one has a little copy link. Click that and paste it into chat on the game and you get a thumbtack on your map to find the badge.
( Ignore "Tried and True", it's special and outside this system. And enter City Hall and go downstairs for "Edge of Chaos" )
When you have all 5 you get 5 reward Merits.

Go to Wentworths (W on the Atlas  Park map) and use the cash machine Merit Vendor to buy Enhancement Converters (under Salvage->Special) - 5 merits will buy you 15 of these purple things with yellow arrows around them.
List them all for 1 inf on the market by talking to one of the green blazer people, and they'll sell immediately for 50,000+ each.
You now have nearly 1 million inf.
Repeat with King's Row next, if you want more $$.

Someone showed me this trick when I started, so pass it on! 🙂 

You'll also get Reward Merits for completing story arcs, so do the same with them.
 

Edited 9 hours ago by MonteCarla

[UltraAlt]

6 hours ago, Ironveil said:

I know I'm low level, but PvE content is almost impossible to solo at this point

 

Are you running away when you need to? (you can run back and string them out once you are a decent way into mission. Wait until they turn to head back to their spawn point and then jump the last guy in line)

 

are you trying to pull, or just rushing in?

 

What is your notoriety set at? (if you need to you can lower it.)

 

Do you have any enhancement slotted? (need SO's? run DFB's they drop SO's)

 

How are you slotting your attacks? (I tend to make the first 2 slots accuracies. IF the power cost more than 10 end, then I slot an end reducer next. Otherwise I will slot an effect enhancement or damage enhancement next. Lower damage powers, use effect for the third slot. high damage powers, use damage for the third slot)

I figure if you can't hit them, then you are just wasting endurance.

 

7 hours ago, Ironveil said:

I hope this doesn't bother anyone, I being a pain and usually keep to myself and not bother people by searching information online, but I'm so lost at what I'm looking at for once in a MMO that I resorted to reaching out on the forums/chat help.

 

Don't feel weird about using the /help channel in-game or to use the /LFG channel to look for back-up.

 

1 hour ago, Ironveil said:

After reading everything so far, I have a bad feeling maybe I built wrong, I found to looooove Mid's Reborn, and looking at Infinitums build I was trying to follow.. yeah I feel like I messed up, honestly that is another problem I've found - There was really no concrete information on what is the easiest new player build to learn the game on, there are soooo many discussions on it, and they all were leaning different avenues. 

 

If you are trying to learn the game, then work to learn it by experimenting with it rather than using mids.

 

The leveling structure is set up so that the enemies should be giving you a hard time when you first run into them and then within 5-10 levels you can start kicking their butts.

 

As you level up, think "what have I been lacking in" and then looks for ways to correct for that either in power picks or slotting. Don't forget to look at the power pools as they can be very helpful as well.

 

And honestly, "builds" and Mids are for level 50's and not leveling characters.

 

 

 

 

[Maelwys]

2 hours ago, Ironveil said:

Also yeah I've noticed my enhancements going off, I was reaaaaally stupid and some guy went around Atlas handing out 1mil influence to all the new players (I happened to be 1) well I decided to reroll eventually (I do that when I'm new, my first toon being the trial run at least until early levels).... I found out I had to email myself the influence for my other toon to use it....... well I didn't know it went Global Handle, and not character handle.... lets say someone named @Ignacio just got 950,000 lol. It's a hard lesson learned, but now I am struggling to keep things up, but from what I'm reading from ya'll so far I don't really need to worry, still hurt though lol.

(i) Rerolling is an option, naturally. But everyone gets a Free "Respec" (short for 'respecification') every 10 levels - just type "/respec". Son't worry too much about getting your build "right" - nobody will overly care what damage you can dish out. This game is extremely easy and forgiving, it's about having fun not mechanical perfection. At the extreme endgame there is a very small amount of team content that requires a certain level of damage output... but it's not required to run it (far from it!) and even then it's far more forgiving than in most MMOs.

(ii) Don't sweat the inf shortage. You can earn Merits at all levels (swap them to enhancement convertors/boosters at the vendor; then sell them on the AH) and collect Prismatic Aether (random mission completion rewards) and rare Invention Salvage (random enemy defeat rewards) to sell on the AH too.

(iii) Check your global email 😉

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Maelwys

[Troo]

6 hours ago, Ironveil said:

Hello

 

Hello.

 

 

You need anything, you let me know. @Troo 

 

Tip for New Players:

It's hard to really mess up in this game. Try stuff. Go for it. Make mistakes. Get defeated. Take a Fly, Super Speed, or Super Jump power as soon as you can (Fly is fun, I like Super Jump).

 

Other stuff:

No need to hoard gear. (salvage, inspirations, recipes, enhancements)

Being defeated is minor and how we learn what we can and can't do.

Our character wakes up in a med bay and loses nothing. The run back to where we were is time to make a new plan.

It's a pretty big game with layers, enjoy it. No hurry.

Ask for help.

Get stuck, ask for help.

Run into a enemy you can't get past, ask for help. 

Don't understand something, ask for help. 

There's no 'right way' to play.

 

Pro Tip: Editing costumes is free until level 10.

Talk to (click on) a trainer like Ms Liberty in Atlas Park, select 'Customize Your Appearance', pick one of the costume slots and start a new look. (we get ~5 costumes to start)

 

 

 

 

[Ironveil]

I usually MT or MH in other MMO's so my habits are pull usually around corners, and running away when needed, I'm only new to the CoH Mechanics not overall MMO mechanics. I have those down for playing 20+ years of MMO's lol - CoH Mechanics are waaaay different than what I've seen so far, but that is what intrigues me, its something different. I experimented with my first build (dark/mace) and was told its hard to handle endurance early but awesome late game, at that time I had no idea it was that rough, hence the reroll, I was handling content fine up until Veles, from then on I struggled, he blew through my inspires within 30secs.

 

I do have them all slotted, but not with accuracy I just did that and noticed a bit of difference, although the Sand of Mu idea really helped with CD's. 

 

HUH it tells me I get my first reroll at 24, that was the whole reason I did it. So I get my first reroll at level 10?? Holy cow.. would've saved me 950,000 influence LOL. I also noted your entire post @Maelwys about making influence, Thank you!

 

You would be surprised with ya'lls comments those are rare - "Try things, no right way", "You'll die it happens", etc are things I haven't seen in over 12 years. MMO's now are so dead set on doing things a particular way, seeing these comments brought me back a little. Example - Warhammer Online was the reason I literally uninstalled and blacklisted the website, all because of the amount of yelling at each other, toxic behavior (Every game has some I know that), or it was their way only, and if you didn't listen you were reported to the GM's, and usually banned. I've noticed that being VERY common lately in games.

 

Ya'll are Gems in the rough, and I appreciate that greatly! Help chat has been awesome so far, and now the forums... Thank you.

Edited 7 hours ago by Ironveil

[Maelwys]

8 minutes ago, Ironveil said:

I usually MT or MH in other MMO's so my habits are pull usually around corners, and running away when needed, I'm only new to the CoH Mechanics not overall MMO mechanics. I have those down for playing 20+ years of MMO's lol - CoH Mechanics are waaaay different than what I've seen so far, but that is what intrigues me, its something different. I experimented with my first build (dark/mace) and was told its hard to handle endurance early but awesome late game, at that time I had no idea it was that rough, hence the reroll, I was handling content fine up until Veles, from then on I struggled, he blew through my inspires within 30secs.

 

I do have them all slotted, but not with accuracy I just did that and noticed a bit of difference, although the Sand of Mu idea really helped with CD's. 

 

HUH it tells me I get my first reroll at 24, that was the whole reason I did it. So I get my first reroll at level 10?? Holy cow.. would've saved me 950,000 influence LOL. I also noted your entire post @Maelwys about making influence, Thank you!

FWIW, this is the sort of low-mid level progression build I'd be recommending to a new player using that powerset combo as a learning experience to see what powers and attacks etc. they like:

 

Note that you can get lots of pool powers; and Travel powers like "Fly" and "Super Jump" can be a lot of fun; but the START vendor gets you Athletic Run and various Flight Powers/Packs that you can play about with for free (or for a very low fee in the case of flight packs).

Don't worry about losing out on ~1mill inf. You'll earn that back in no time.
_{(And check your email... your global is "@Ironshade"... right?) 🙂}

[Maelwys]

3 hours ago, Ironveil said:

@Maelwys - So about Vidiotmaps I tried using the Mod Installer and thought I did it? but my minimap looks the same lol, I just assumed it was something I wouldn't really notice, but the way you are talking seems like it should be drastically different.

You need to have the files in the right subfolder under your Homecoming installation IIRC.
But the map does look different than usual once done - you should notice little colour-coded [1] symbols on your map, and a key for Exploration badges etc. off to the side.
However you DO need the map to be fully revealed (e.g. no fog of war!) to actually see most of it. Use the REVEAL power from the START vendor.
 

Edited 6 hours ago by Maelwys

[Nemu]

I wouldn't use any of the finished builds from build makers as a template for your leveling build. Those assume a few things:
1 - You have money to kit out your build

2 - You are level 50 and have gotten all your powers

 

You will fall into the trap of trying to slot and enhance your survival tools early on as a Tanker because that's what they should be good at. But the reality is that early game they are just as fragile as any other AT. It took me a long time to figure out that dead things don't fight back and that is the mantra that ALL ATs will have to adopt during the low levels. At those levels damage and killing stuff faster than they can kill you is the ONLY thing that matters, not how much you can heal/resist damage/debuff. Those other things will manifest later as your build matures.

 

A few tips on making your early leveling smoother:
1 - go all in on attacks and damage until your mid-late teens, you can defer some survival tools until later (do take your mez protection0, and you can respec at an appropriate milestone to fit those powers into a cohesive finished build.

 

2 - run content at -1/0 notoriety. At lower levels its not killing stuff that gets you the most XP, its finishing mission and story arcs. You can change notoriety (mission difficulty) by clicking on the speech bubble icon next to the chat input box and selecting the notoriety option from the Menu. There is a setting that adjusts the level of foes you fight relative to your level, set that to -1. There is another option sets the density of mobs you encounter solo relative to team size. You don't have to mess with that one for now but once your build matures you can tune both options as you see fit.

 

3 - run story arcs, those will have a blue title highlight when you select your missions from your contact, the story arc completion xp bonus is sizable and you get reward merits when you finish the arc. Think of reward merits as in game currency that you can trade/convert for most things you need in game and make influence with.

 

4 - you don't have to kill everything along the way. A lot of missions require you only reach the final objective, at -1/0 you can skip past mobs in your way, even if you run past them they will only give chase for a very short distance before giving up. Again, most of the xp comes from mission completion and story arc completion.

 

A template savage bio early leveling build running at -1/0 difficulty would look something like this

 

 

Focus on getting at least 3 attacks by level 10 and prioritize on 3 damage enhancements and 1 acc enhancement in all your attacks. I wouldn't bother with evolving armor and genetic contamination early on. Those drain a lot of endurance, and serve only as a distraction for where you should allocate your slots. They are also taunt auras, but right now you just want to kill stuff to level up, and you have nowhere near the survival that's needed to actually make use of those taunt auras for large groups.

 

Once you get past the lower level content and your build starts to mature with more attacks that you get at later levels, you can do a respec and swap out some powers.

[Ironveil]

Yeah its @Ironshade - I made the forums account with the name I wanted, but then the Global Handle was taken, so I had to change it a bit lol. That build 1-10 is a good reference and where I messed up a bit on mine. Knowing now I am able to respec prior to level 24, I plan on fixing mine before it gets out of hand lol, I had random skills that I didn't need, like Taunt.. at level 11.. Waste.. Didn't know until I tried it for myself and was like yeah, I don't plan on tanking where it requires this early game. 

 

Edit - Oh and my Toxic Dart shenanigan's

Edited 3 hours ago by Ironveil

[Warboss]

Welcome! I'll take this opportunity to shameless plug (and invite you to) Tanker Tuesday. See schedule in sig. We run on Excel on the first Tuesday of each month. It's a great place to ask for build ideas, test builds and run with a bunch of Tanks (TT is an all Tanker event). With the account free transfers you can move your Tank around (caution about name changes/lost name from server to server). Or roll a new Tank to run on each of the servers we tour.

 

Tanker Tuesday Thread

 

Enjoy!

Edited 1 hour ago by Warboss
Because it's me.

[Ironveil]

I'll have to take a look at that! Thanks! The more information I take it the more confident I'll be about things.