In the City of.. to Champions Online

Annzilla!
Everyone's favorite lizard lady!

I've had a Champions Online lifetime account since the first week they announced sale of it. I forgot how much I paid for it, as the price now is $300 and I am not sure if I paid for it when it was on sale or not. So let's just say I paid anywhere from $200 to $300 for it and thought the game will be my be all and end all.

I leveled my main to the max 40... and then I kind of got bored of it. The Freeform AT was kind of overwhelming at first, but it also broke the game because you can make some really OP characters at that time.. and you can make some really gimped characters if you didn't read up on the process. Also, for some reason, it just wasn't as fun as the City of.

She translated nicely to CO!

Champions Online lacked that fun and powerful feeling that I received from playing CoX... a feeling that I describe as "crunchy." CO was not crunchy enough for me. The game-play felt sluggish. And tried as I might, I just couldn't click with the CO community, so I didn't stick with the game for as long as I had initially hoped.

The Lifetime Sub was a real regret of mine at the time as I was in between jobs then. The amount I paid for it was a stretch for me. I could have used that money elsewhere. =/

Sixty, ready to hand out the
SB cookies! If only...

But now that I am getting a bit desperate to make a character and beat some faces in a persistent world, I've recently logged in CO.. and found out that I had made Annzilla way back when. She's still level 2. I'll play her when I remember how to play again. I think I'll have to make a new character to re-learn everything.

Sixty also exists as a Freeform character in my CO account as well. She is currently sitting at level 6 and will probably continue to sit there. I'm not sure CO has a Kinetics/Speed Boost type of AT/power. I'll need to do a bit of research.

Not the best CO remake. And the
shade of pink is all wrong!

Having the Lifetime subscription inactive and forgotten about these many years had left me with a bunch of Zen points (the CO "real money" currency) once I logged back on. I feel so rich in-game and can buy all sorts of neato costume pieces, vehicles, and other things. That should keep me occupied for a little bit.

I'm still somewhat overwhelmed with Freeform, because I forgot everything since the last time I've played. I am stuck with the problem of overchoice that leaves me with a case of inactivity due to indecision. And of course there were nerfs and changes and such.. and now they have actual archetypes. Maybe I will re-start with one of those.

Either way, I guess this is an OK alternative to getting some superhero action while waiting for the City to come back in the meantime. It still doesn't give me the crunchy feeling I want. But I suppose it's better than nothing.

You know, I really wished that the Perfect World/Arc bought the City of Heroes IP instead of NCSoft. Why couldn't they buy CO instead...

Random Screenshots of Some Bad Guys

It's the weekend. I have to study right now, so what do I do? The usual, going through some old screenshots and procrastinating from my work. Most of these were taken from 2004 to 2005. Enjoy!

Clamor! She was the final boss in Sister Psyche's TF. I think this was like my second encounter with her ever. I took a bunch of screenshots, but really liked this one of her in particular. She's been working out her buns!

Fake Nemesis! This was significant because this was my first encounter with the Fake Nemesis when I was playing in Victory. I was playing as my AR/Dev Blaster who had the cloaking device so I was able to get a nice close up shot. Of course, you know that he's a dime a dozen in the later levels. Nothing special, but the moment was special to me in the sense of "omg, so cool!" I forgot how the fight itself went, but I remember that initial feeling. 

This was taken the day that Issue 2 released with the Terra Volta Re-specification Trial (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong). It just looked so neat and pretty with all the Sky Raiders floating about. I was soooo scared to jump!

We all know this guy. Vandal is the AV in the Citadel TF. I was playing in Victory at this time, since I recognize my alt, Theophana. She was a Bubble/Dark Defender. Good times. 

And finally, I give you a zombie butt! Or the Dry Husk or whatever from the Banished Pantheon. This was before the ragdoll effects were implemented and before they decided to put some pants on these guys. Just a silly screenshot of a pantless zombie. Haha!

Meet Electradoll, Electric Armor & Electrical Melee Tanker

Does she look familiar?

This feels a little weird. This is my first entry on a post-sunset character. Yes, I know there were re-builds, like with Ms Ann's. And deciding on the new main, an SD/FM Tanker, but the difference is that re-building is just selecting new powers, though the concept is still the same and playing with builds is just that, because I really don't even have a name or a concept for the new main. She's just a build at this point and doesn't even have a face. This one feels weird because she does actually have a face, name, and a background!

I was thinking back to the If the City Came Back... (also had a little screenshot hint there too) entry on February 12 on my plans for the Tanker Project, specifically the Electric Armor tank that I would be rolling. I decided on pairing her with the Electrical Melee, because why not? Most of my elemental-ish primaries have been paired with it's melee counterpart (like Tropica and Iceminx), so I thought it was a good idea to try the Electric sets together.

And then... Electradoll happened. Here's the visuals on her build:

Just going for the cheap, because don't have much experience with Electric Armor.

So I didn't really try to soft cap and I wasn't too sure how to build her out or what's useful (other than what I can determine from the descriptions), because I have never rolled an Electric Armor before. I kind of sort of imagine that she will play similarly to Dark Armor, Fiery Armor, and Ice Armor - in that it will be endurance heavy, that I have to find other means to mitigate damage, and it might be a rough ride up for a tanker.

And the extras.

At least I am somewhat comfortable with the Elec Melee, so I can try to manage the deficiencies that way. Probably. Also, EM is a really fun melee set. Here's Mid's Data Link if you want to check it out yourself. Feel free to critique!

Bzzzttzztz goes Electradoll!

So does she look familiar? Other than giving a sneak peek in last week's entry, I mean. She's basically has the same origin as Combustidoll, my Fire/NRG blaster (who was so dang fun to play!). I also had an alt named Flambedoll and Infernadoll. If I recall correctly, they were supposed to be a fire project of sorts (if you can't already tell), but I think I can make an exception for Electradoll.

They're all a part of the same malfunctioning (or not?) doll collection that was created by one of my tech genius alts that got deleted (I think she was a controller of some sort). I just loved playing as these little dolls. They are on the shortest end of the height slider and packs a HUGE punch!

When the game comes back and if the Electradoll name gets taken, that's fine. I'll just think of something else electrical related that ends with "-doll." I guess people are not too keen on playing as toys!

Annzilla's Old and Updated Build

She's one of my favorite alts, a Stone/Fire Tank. She was the first of the Tanker Project after Ms Ann (my main). I recall that leveling her up was really tough for me because of Rooted and the sluggishness of the Stone set in general. It took some time to get used to TPing into mobs and managing aggro from afar. The speed debuff is much less forgiving to teammates when they do not stick by the tanker. Stonies are too slow to be able to run to a teammate to tauntlet the foes away so I had experienced more teammate deaths that way.

Funny thing.. I also never understood why so many people chose the Stone set until hitting 32 for Granite Armor. Basically, it's tanking on easy mode. For me, personally, it got kind of boring at that point, but I get why people are drawn to it. You just don't have to worry about managing health or mitigation at all. You're a big stone slab that punches things.

I just wish there was a female form for the stone armor. I'm not talking about hyper sexualization with the boobies and all, but just not as masculine as the Granite Armor as it existed. Oh, and I was't too fond of grunting like a man, either. Hah.

At any rate, with all the posts I have done on Annzilla in the past, I realized that I have never actually posted up her build.

This build was as of mid-late 2011.

I don't believe I rerolled her at all, so this is probably the sunset build as well.

Here are the stats, with Granite on, duh.

You can grab Mid's data link for the old build here. Or you can check out the new build with the fitness inherent below:

Pretty much the same. 

I didn't bother putting the other data bits for this build because it's basically the same. The new build is a bit more expensive, but is mostly the same, but Greater Fire Sword removed (dps for incinerate is better, and I always felt that she had more attacks than needed), and a few more "nice to have" powers picked from the pools.

If I were to replay her, I will probably stick with the old IOs since they are super budget and easier to get and revert to the new build if I play her more than expected.

Data link for the updated build here.

Cathedral of Pain Screenshots, Circa I18

It's that time again, more old screenshots! I believe this was taken in my very first attempt at the Cathedral of Pain trial, when it was re-released again in I18. This was when I was in the Paragonian Knights SG in Virtue. The screenshots were dated 11/20/2005.

The portal

The SG getting ready

About to enter the portal

Everyone zoning in

Getting ready to attack the pylons

Another view of the pylons

Not doing too well!

I believe this was my view after getting faceplanted

(One of my most favorite screenshots ever)

Regrouping for another attempt

We got it!

Ohh shiny!!!

I think these screenshots were for this blog itself. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about the trial itself to really give any pointers.

Anyways, happy Friday the 13th!

If the City Came Back...

I guess it's going to be one of those posts. You know, the wishful thinking kind of posts. Sort of like when you buy a lottery ticket and then fantasize a bit about winning a bunch of money... what would you do with all that money? (Buy the COH/CPV IP!) In this case, what would I do if the game came back?

This post will probably be used to reference when the game comes back to serve as a game plan of sorts (pun intended!).

Money, Accounts, Servers, and Names

Whatever the payment model is: pay once to play (like Diablo 3), monthly subscription, free to play/micro-transactions, a mix of all of the above, I am so ready to give them my money. If there is a subscription model, I will buy a year right off the bat. Hell, if there is a lifetime subscription that doesn't cost more than $300, I would go ahead and pay for that too! (I would even consider it up to $500 for the lifetime sub, but ONLY if there are guarantees that the game will stay around longer than 5 years.)

In fact, I think it is likely that I may have 2 accounts. One will serve as a main account which belongs to me with the proper long term subscription. Another to have subbed on a monthly or quarterly basis in case family members or friends want to play as well.. and also, so I can have some separate-account alts to invite myself to my private SG. I would also level pact the more painful-to-level-up ATs (for me at least) so I can have them get past the low level hump and enjoy playing them at a higher level. Something like that. I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself with 3 accounts at the start (which I've had going all at one time before sunset), though it would likely taper down to 2 at most during normal play.

Once the accounts are established, the first thing I would do is squat a certain name in all the servers, starting with what would presumably be the VIP "subscribers" server. Before you complain, I do intend on leveling them all up to 50 and slotting them out, as I was in the process of doing so when the game was live. At the very least, I just want to have my special name in my main server!

And you can bet your buttons that I will be dragging my boyfriend and family back to the game as well. So that's at least 6 accounts right there.

Ahh, the market. 

Where to Begin with the Characters

What would I first roll when the game comes back? Well, in all likelihood, I will be rolling my "New Main" (name currently unknown), who at the time of this writing will likely be a SD/FM Tanker. Her power set selection is based on my desire for a character that will be useful in teaming situations, as well as a powerhouse in farming. Yes, I know, Ms Ann will no longer be the main. She will be rerolled, actually. Maybe to Invulnerability & Titan Weapons.

A new character development courtesy of Titan Icon

So once the primary server is determined and the main is settled in, I would then go about re-creating most of my characters. As mentioned, some of the more annoying ones will be level-pact over time or recreated entirely, but most, I think would be back and be replayed.

Aside from the main, the first few characters would be the solo-farm types. You know, like Zazza (though she was mostly content and teaming until 50 and then got slotted out to farming duty).. or some others that I was experimenting with and/or have heard was very good for these types of situations. They would kind of hang out strictly in AE to fund my mains/alts and/or to PL myself and some level-pacted alt to get through the low level hump.

I would be re-rolling my favorite alts as they were before sunset and playing them through again, like Zetsumei (technically my villain/solo main), Sixty, Combustidoll, Zazza, and Thermonuclea. The non-tanker alts will be re-created, for the most part, but modified a bit (for example, Theophelia will be a Mind or Fire/Kin Controller instead.. and might even be renamed!).

The Tanker Project

And then there's the Tanker Project. Well, I most certainly am going to have to re-roll all of them and level them all up again. It wouldn't feel right if I just level-pact the ones I already played up. Some will be modified. For example, Anwyn will not be an Energy Melee (I seriously hate EM). I would probably start with the Tanker sets that I haven't played to 50 yet. The ones I have already played, like Ice Minx, Tropica, and Paradoxic will be lower on the play list since I've played them before and it was not terribly fun on the way up (they did mature very nicely once they got their IOs in). It's probably going to look something like this:

1. TBD Main new (Shield Defense/Fiery Melee)
2. TBD new (Bio Armor/?) *only if it is the i24 image upon release
3. NeoGeode, reroll (Super Reflexes/Stone Melee) may also rename/reconceptualize
4. TBD new (Electric Armor/?)
5. Annzilla (Stone Armor/Fiery Melee)
6. Anwyn, reroll (Willpower/Dual Blades)
7. Paradoxic (Dark Armor/Dark Melee)
8. Ms Ann, reroll (Invulnerability/Titan Weapons)
9. Ice Minx (Ice Armor/Ice Melee)
10. Tropica (Fiery Aura/Fiery Melee)

I guess I will fiddle around on builds for the new ones as well as all the rerolls. Fun! Damn, I really want to play them already.

The Melee Project & the Mastermind Project

Zet, my darling MM. 

You know what? While the Tanker project is going on, I will likely be starting a Brute/Scrapper project as well for a little variety. It's going to be a much slower project than the Tanker project. This is the project to level up all the melee powers. I know, the powers are different between ATs, but that would just give me a bit of leeway to pick the more fun stuff as opposed to feeling as I have to do it out of obligation, right? *wink*wink* Most of them will likely be Brutes. I was actually starting to get into Brutes as an AT before the end. I would like to pick up where I left off.

The other project will be the Mastermind project: leveling up all the primaries for the Mastermind AT. I was sort of doing that in various other servers than Virtue before the sunset. But will likely just stick to one server as the MM server for me on the main account. Something like that. This is just a project for when I feel like soloing. You know how it is.

Zetsumei, however, will be on the main server.

Community & Super Groups

Once the game goes live, I will be active-ish in the various forums. Maybe I will actually post things instead of lurking. It's just so much easier to lurk, really. I would be active as much as possible in my SG though, given that life, work, and school obligations are attended to first.

As for super groups. I know right off the bat, I will be creating my own personal SG and SVG. This will be the place to park all of the alts and such. The more active characters or the in-progress characters will be in actual SGs.

Without the game now, there are no SGs so it's not like I can research or apply to them. As for the Paragonian Knights, who knows? Maybe? Maybe not? If I establish myself in a different server than where they are, its a definite no. If we're in the same server, who knows? I was honestly never really fond of that SG name in particular. I always wished it had less of a medieval slant to it. I'd probably join whatever active community spawns from the Penny Arcade forums. Or I will try to wrangle IRL friends and family together to set up our own. We'll see how it is at the time when it relaunches.

Taking Some Vacation Time

Assuming that there would be advanced warning about the re-release of the game, I am SO going to take some vacation time to get some play in. Omg. I would take that whole damn week off. If the game comes back soon, I hope that it would be in between semesters so I don't have to worry about classes and homework. If it comes back later (like in a year or two), hopefully I would be done with my graduate degree by then (this depends on how many classes I want to cram in each semester while working a full time job).

Other Musings

There's some discussion on the Titan Forum, which asks the question of what would stop me from coming back to the city?

Some people's reasons for not coming back include: losing all their account information and associated bonuses and things purchased, which includes having to re-roll and re-level all the characters, having to repay for all of the items, losing all those veteran rewards. Other reasons include having a forced PVP, the gaming forcing a "holy trinity" style of ATs, the game being altered in a fundamental way as to be unrecognizable to what we know as COH, having a pay-to-win scenario, having NCSuck's involvement, etc.

If you can't already tell, I am totally ready to start all over again,  from the bottom up. I think it would fun to have everyone start all over again together, actually. I was there since the first week of release and was able to see everyone leveling up together. Many of us didn't know how to play, so we were all learning together. Of course, if the game came back, many vets will come back, so it will be interesting to see how the leveling and such goes with many experienced people starting at the bottom.

The other main reason why I am OK with everyone starting over is because I can get the chance to snag the name that I want in the main server (at least). I had tried sending messages to the person who had the name I wanted, but I am assuming that their account was inactive and that they never got my messages... or they just ignored me.

I am OK with having to re-purchase the games and items again, though it won't happen right away with all of the accounts. I'd just buy the bare minimum, that's all. How much I buy right away depends on the item below...

If NCSoft itself is the entity that brings back the game, I will be VERY leery of the amount of money I give them (most likely will just stick to 1 monthly paid account with the bare essentials, and a 1 free account), but if they have very minimal involvement, say, they're only leasing the license of the IP but an entirely different entity runs the company and everything else, I will go all in with my wallet. So either way, if NCSuck is involved, I will still be back. How wide my wallet opens depends on how much they are involved.

If the game forces PVP, I'm fine with it. I've played those types of games before. I also imagine if they force it on us, many players will band together to create an unofficial "non-pvp" server where everyone plays nice.. and that we'd set up a group of vigilantes for those that do not play nicely.

If the game changes to a "holy trinity" style or fundamentally changes the game, then I will not be ok with it, but then I wouldn't know until I played. I also don't see these 3 items above happening because it involves considerable development time before the re-release of the game. I would imagine that whoever takes it over would rather just get it set up and running right away so they can get some return on investment as oppose to investing more development time to change the game before seeing a dime. It's still about money after all. Which brings me to the last point...

If they created a pay-to-win scenario.. I guess it depends on what they want us to pay for and how much they want us to pay for it. I would not come back if it was like a Clash of Clans type scenario... slowing things down, putting up pay walls everywhere, or just paying to advance at all. But then again, those type of games were designed from the ground up to be pay-to-win and CoH was not, so I don't see that being implemented without fundamentally changing the game itself. And you already know how likely I think that will happen based on the development costs, at least right off the bat.

It'll take a lot more than that to get rid of us!

In Conclusion

I am so ready to come back. I miss this game dearly.

I know many of the terms are spoken in absolutes in my blog (like "when the game comes back.."), but the truth is that I do not know when the game will be back or if this current deal will work. And if this deal does not go through, I do know that one day, the game will be back eventually. Like I said, the CoH community is that persistent. I know the sun will rise again.

7 Year Anniversary Infographic

I found this on the interwebs. I thought it was just worth sharing, that's all.

It's missing several years worth of data.. =( I wish I knew what it looked like had the game kept going. Gah, I hate NCSuck.

How to Build a Brute

This is not written by me. I found it on the Titan Forums, written by SuckerPunch. I just found it very useful and wanted to share it (and to keep for my own records to refer to). It's obviously been written pre-fitness-inherent, so adjust your strategies accordingly. It's very interesting to read the suggestions for Brute leveling and power selections as opposed to doing so for Tankers.

---

Picking your powers

The most basic thing you should do is always have 3 single target attacks by level 6. Early on, your biggest advantage is fury. Without 3 single target attacks, you neither have the tools to make use of fury, nor the tools necessary to build fury. It might be tempting to skimp out on attacks in favor of an early damage aura, but you are just asking for frustration, not only from your fury bar but from your end bar as well.

Dark Melee might want to consider adding in Boxing or Air Superiority. Shadow Maul has too long an activation time to be reliable for Fury, and besides Maul, you won't see another true attack until level 32.

Jacob's Ladder can count as a single target attack for Elec due to its reasonably low recharge.

Barrage from Energy Melee and Jab from Super Strength kinda suck. It's not terribly important in the lower levels, but you're probably better off replacing them with either Boxing or Air Superiority. This can wait until a respec if you like. Also keep in mind that using Air Superiority will put more of a strain on your end rate.

Once your single target attacks are in order, the next step is to consider what you're building your Brute for. In my experience, the best thing to do is to forget everything else in the early levels and focus on solo efficiency. If you find yourself caring about PvP or better group abilities, you can handle that in a respec, but for now focus on making the most enjoyable leveler you can.

What this means is that you want to focus on damage first, but with a secondary emphasis on survivability and sustainability (in short, end). Sustainability is important because the best thing you can do for your DPS is to never stop fighting. With the right setup, you should never have to rest for health or end in 95% of the solo missions you run, which should spell a full fury bar for the entire time. Additionally, you're best off staying at the default difficulty level prior to SOs, where sustainability is your most pressing concern.

Besides the 3 early single target attacks, you may want to throw a fourth one in before level 14, usually a high damage boss killer like KO Blow, or a good AoE attack like Thunder Strike. The downside to a lot of these choices is that they give you more survivability than you need at a higher end cost than you can afford. Touch of Fear, for instance, is a great solo ability, but you really shouldn't need it until the 20s. Fault is similar, but it has a much higher group utility. In this case, you might take Fault if you plan on grouping heavily, but if you have doubts, remember, build for soloability. If you're conflicted, err in favor of the power that'll be most useful for you without a group, and then expand to group utility powers after the pressing needs like Stamina are taken care of.

Only take your Smash/Lethal protection toggle and your status protection toggle. The other damage types are not common enough to justify a power selection until far later in the game. At 25, my SS/EA still doesn't have Power Shield, and I barely miss it, certainly not enough to remove any other power for it. Non-S/L villain groups are rare until the 20s. If your content running, you can just do it at the easiest difficulty level, where even pure psychic enemies are gnats, and if you're trying to level quickly, just up the difficulty and run cherry-picked newspaper missions for S/L villain groups.

Do not take a damage aura. Later in the game when you have a feel for your character, then decide whether to put one in. Early on, you do not have the end to handle the damage aura costs, nor do you have the protection to handle herding enough mobs to take advantage of all the AoE damage. It'll be suicide in groups, and worst of all, all the extra damage it's dealing you'll lose from how it hurts your fury generation in various ways.

Like a lot of things, I'm not saying that damage auras are universally bad. I just believe that it's a lot more characters get deleted because they took a damage aura than they do for not taking one. Stone might be an exception because of the extra utility in their aura, but you're making a definite commitment to being a group oriented brute if you go that route, so make sure you're comfortable with that role.

This should go without saying, but Do not take any of the passives. Later in the game, when you know what you're doing with your character and have your major powers slotted up, some of the passives may prove desirable. They're not at the low levels, and you are pretty much gimping your character if you take any of them.

The only exceptions are Grounded and Lightning Reflexes.

Pre-20, the only power pools you should work on are your travel power and fitness. Having Stamina by your early 20s is very desirable.

You could skimp on a travel power now that CoV gives you a jump pack and 3 flight packs by the time you hit 25, but for a brute this is not advisable. Travel time between spawns is very important for keeping fury high, so having a travel power is a good idea. More importantly, the travel power and its pre-requisite are usually powers that don't require much slotting, which is important pre-20 where you'll be hurting more for slots than for powers.

You might think, "Hey, if I put x and y together, I could have a Brute that wouldn't need Stamina!" and you're probably right. It is, however, not worth building with such a goal in mind. It's a late blooming strategy without much of a payoff. Health is a useful power to have, and Hurdle is a pancaking awesome way to get a cheap mini-travel power with combat jumping. Build for Stamina your first run through, and then respec out of it into your crazy build later on.

As for travel powers, when in doubt, go Super Jump. Like I said, Combat Jumping + Hurdle is insanely useful. Plus, 2 of the 6 secondaries need Acrobatics. Some people like Flight, but a lot of people get annoyed by its slow speeds and high end costs, and as a Brute, you do not want to deal with high end costs.

Teleport isn't great as a first travel power for Brutes, unless you're Stone. Speed isn't a bad choice now that you have hours worth of flight and jump pack available, but Hasten isn't terribly useful pre-22. Sure, it'll up your DPS, but you typically won't have the End available to sustain your attacks.

Medicine is a very useful pool, but you don't really need to start work on it until the 20s. At the lowest difficulty level, you're far more likely to have end problems than health problems, so Aid Self can wait. Fighting should be postponed for the same reasons.

By 20 you have 12 powers to choose from. 3 of those should be Fitness to Stamina. 2 of those should be your Travel power. 3 should be your single target attack core. 1 should be your smash/lethal toggle and 1 should be your status resist toggle. This leaves 2 free choices for powers, which should generally be either an additional attack or a very potent defensive ability like Dull Pain or Dark Regeneration

Slotting your powers

The biggest mistake I see is people dumping multiple EndRdx into their toggles when their attacks are not 6 slotted.

The standard cost for a single toggle is .13 eps. A single EndRdx SO will save you about .04 eps.

Let's take Jab from Super Strength. It costs 3.536 end and is available every 2 seconds, for an end cost of 1.768 eps. A single EndRdx drops that to 2.56 end for a rate of 1.28 eps, nearly a .5 eps reduction.

"But toggles are always on!" might be the first response I get to this, but it's not a very astute one. As a Brute, your goal is to never stop using your attacks, so getting as close as you can to one jab every two seconds isn't terribly unreasonable.

But even when you can't use jab every time it comes up, keep in mind the huge disparity between what you're getting out of the SOs. The EndRdx in Jab saves you nearly 1 full point of end every time you use the power, so as long as you use jab once every 25 seconds, you're getting a better return from the EndRdx in Jab than you are in the toggle.

The point of all this is that slotting EndRdx in your basic toggles is a waste. It's a potentially justifiable waste later on when you have slots to spare, but never go past 3 slots early in the game, and never start dumping EndRdx into your toggles before your attacks are 6 slotted with a few EndRdx of their own.

More importantly, make a commitment to 6 slot any attack you plan to use as a brute. Accuracy, Damage, Recharge, and EndRdx all have great returns, and there is simply no reason for any attack to ever have less than 6 enhancements between those 4 categories.

Early on, divide most of your enhancement slots fairly evenly between your attacks. Getting a solid accuracy base between all of your attacks is the most important thing you can do in the early game. Also make an effort to triple slot your Smash/Lethal toggle.

From there on, it's all about balancing slots between your attacks and any extra defensive powers you pick up along the way. Dull Pain can probably justify 3 slots early, whereas, you might want Dark Regeneration up to 6 slots as quickly as possible. The best thing you can do is look through the builds guide for builds involving your primary or secondary to get a feel for which powers need what kind of slotting. They're not always a great way to get a good idea how soon you should begin slotting, but getting a feel for what deserves slotting is the greater part of the battle.

Source: SuckerPunch

Shield Defense & Fiery Melee Tanker w/ SCD Fixed & Cheap Version

As mentioned, here's the fix for the New Main (whom I think I will simply call NM for now). And also, if you're wondering, SCD means soft-capped defenses.

This is a fix for the one posted earlier today that went over the IO set cap. There's just some very minor re-slotting, not too drastic.

Can you spot the difference?

Stats are basically the same to this morning's build. 

You can download Mid's Data Link for the Bank Buster build here to load it to your computer. And here's the set bonuses in case you are wondering:

• +9% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• +9% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• +9% DamageBuff(Fire)
• +9% DamageBuff(Cold)
• +9% DamageBuff(Energy)
• +9% DamageBuff(Negative)
• +9% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• +9% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• +9.75% Defense(Melee)
• +7.88% Defense(Smashing)
• +7.88% Defense(Lethal)
• +6% Defense(Fire)
• +6% Defense(Cold)
• +6% Defense(Energy)
• +6% Defense(Negative)
• +11.63% Defense(Psionic)
• +6% Defense(Ranged)
• +6% Defense(AoE)
• +2.25% Max End
• +97% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• +5% Enhancement(Heal)
• +87.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• +10% SpeedFlying
• +302.2 HP (16.13%) HitPoints
• +10% JumpHeight
• +10% SpeedJumping
• +MezResist(Immobilized) 2.2%
• +MezResist(Stunned) 2.2%
• +MezResist(Terrorized) 2.75%
• +24.5% (0.41 End/sec) Recovery
• +62% (4.84 HP/sec) Regeneration
• +2.52% Resistance(Smashing)
• +2.52% Resistance(Lethal)
• +7.56% Resistance(Fire)
• +7.56% Resistance(Cold)
• +2.52% Resistance(Toxic)
• +17.02% Resistance(Psionic)
• +10% SpeedRunning
  

The Budget Friendly Build

That build above was the bank breaker. I imagine it would take a while to earn all the influence and the merits in order to get all of those IOs. The build below is the cheaper build that can be used in the meantime. All power selections are the same. I simply reslotted everything.

There are no purples or PVP IOs in this build. There are still some expensive-ish sets (Oblits, Scirocs, and Posi's) to start, but at least they are not the super rare or very expensive types that would take a while to get. There should be enough turn over in these IOs and their recipes that you can still get them relatively easy, but probably not too cheaply. Not to mention, many of them would also be used in the actual final build, so, it doesn't hurt to have them ready for that when time comes.

Doesn't look like it would faceplant your bank account, right?

Basically, this is the build that you can start shopping for as you are leveling up the character. Some IOs are easier to get than others, obviously. If it were me, the primary focus would be on working on the Endurance and getting the proper IOs for that once you get to level 50 (or before). All others can be obtained through TFs and merits and such.

Soft capping on the cheap!

If you have never leveled up an SD before, just know that they do have some endurance issues, especially while leveling up without all the set bonuses. One of the main difference I can spot right away between the two builds is the regen (huge difference!) and the end recovery (not as significant as regen, but a very noticeable difference). If you haven't already guessed, I hate, hate, hate running out of End, so am very mindful of it in my builds. It's part of the whole fast-paced play style. Running out of Endurance just means having to slow down. And I don't want to slow down for nothing!

Selecting the conserve power should help offset the endurance usage occasionally, but since it is not up about 2/3rds of the time that will still require some active endurance management from the player.

Still, it is a very solid cheapo build. I wanna try this one out too!

Download Mid's Data Link for the Budget Friend Build.

Shield Defense & Fiery Melee Tanker w/ Soft-Capped Defenses

If you're wondering about me as a person (not just a disembodied voice on the internets!), I currently work for a local school district somewhere in Massachusetts. They called another snow day today, so I'm stuck at home again. This is the 5th snow day in less than 3 weeks. The snow is like 2 ft deep in some places, and they called a snow day even though we're only expecting about 1 foot at most. But with the snow already on the ground, there's just no where to put it! And traveling in this mess is just terrible.. kind of wish I had some SJ for myself just to get around. I do like the paid time off, but at this point, I'm getting kind of bored.. weird huh? I guess I'm not a kid anymore.

At any rate, another day at home just gives me some more time to think about the New Main's build. I went ahead and soft capped the gal.

Still a very expensive build.

You know what's funny? In the previous non-soft-capped build, as well as Ms Ann's hypothetical Inv/Titan Weapons build, I had forgotten about the uniques entirely. Oops. I only realized that because I had been poking around other folk's build in the Titan Forums to see how they slotted. You can see I fixed that little mistake above.

While expensive, most of the IOs above are easy-ish to get a hold of, except for the one PVP IO for the +3% defenses. I recall actually being able to buy it for 2 billion influence (the cap) in the market only once. It's a long wait for that particular IO because most people who are in the know sell it off market for a greater amount than 2 billion. So in the meantime, I would keep a res/end Steadfast in there with the unique so I can also get the IO set bonus. Not a bad alternative, I think.

Well, there you go.. (it does have AD up, btw)

It's a pretty dang survivable build. I imagine it would be nasty on the x8 soloing. Ugh. I am super yearning for a trip into AE with this build.

You know, in retrospect, I might actually decide to go with this build as the main build instead. I might just slot it out a cheaper alternative for the "in the meantime" playing while I gather the big IOs, and also for others who may want to just use the build for themselves.

Anyways, I haven't done this in a while, so here's the list of the applied IO bonuses:

• +9% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• +9% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• +9% DamageBuff(Fire)
• +9% DamageBuff(Cold)
• +9% DamageBuff(Energy)
• +9% DamageBuff(Negative)
• +9% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• +9% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• +9.75% Defense(Melee)
• +7.88% Defense(Smashing)
• +7.88% Defense(Lethal)
• +6% Defense(Fire)
• +6% Defense(Cold)
• +6% Defense(Energy)
• +6% Defense(Negative)
• +11.63% Defense(Psionic)
• +6% Defense(Ranged)
• +6% Defense(AoE)
• +2.25% Max End
• +97% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• +87.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• +10% SpeedFlying
• +302.2 HP (16.13%) HitPoints
• +10% JumpHeight
• +10% SpeedJumping
• +MezResist(Immobilized) 2.2%
• +MezResist(Stunned) 2.2%
• +MezResist(Terrorized) 2.75%
• +24.5% (0.41 End/sec) Recovery
• +62% (4.84 HP/sec) Regeneration
• +2.52% Resistance(Smashing)
• +2.52% Resistance(Lethal)
• +7.56% Resistance(Fire)
• +7.56% Resistance(Cold)
• +2.52% Resistance(Toxic)
• +17.02% Resistance(Psionic)
• +10% SpeedRunning

On a side note, while I was on that window, I noticed I reached the IO bonus caps to some of them. Yeesh, I totally forgot about that cap too! Hmm.. might have to continue playing with this build then...

In the meantime, here's Mid's data link for this build.

Possible New Main, Shield Defense & Fiery Melee Tanker

So I got Titan Icon working.. I didn't really play around with it too much because as expected, I was getting really sad and nostalgic and decided to play some Sims 3 instead. Making houses and buying really nice things for my fake houses do make me feel better. I'll spend a bit more time in the Icon another day. I guess I just wasn't ready for all the feels.

In the meantime, building out hypothetical characters isn't too bad of an activity as opposed to reconstructing the costumes of my old characters, since the hypothetical character never really existed for me to get nostalgic over. At any rate, when the game comes back, I have a new possible Main ready to go: Shield Defense and Fiery Melee Tanker - name to be determined.

Since she's the main, she will be stacked to the gills with IOs, no expenses spared.

Here are the power selections. 

Just a note, "Active Defenses" is really easy to 

I have played both SD and FM in Tanker, Brute, and Scrapper capacities before, but not these particular sets together. Since I know I have enjoyed each power set before, I feel like they would be a great combination for my possible New Main.

I want something sturdy and with enough damage so that I can solo if needed while leveling up. I love me my area of effect attacks, so there's a no brainer on the power choices, really.

Someone else's video w/ the same Primary and Secondary in action. 

***DROOLS***

SD is just a set that is not too hard to soft cap, though that was not a particular goal in this build. The focus is to be well rounded in solo (easy +1x8) and teaming situations. I suppose, depending on how things go, I might decide to soft-cap (45%) the defenses later... and/or share it in another post.

This is with the "One with the Shield" power up. Lots of resists. 

But of course, you can't enhance it for recharge, so there's really no way to get it to perma. Oh well. 

And here were go with just the usual toggles up. 

Not too shabby still. 

Also another thing to consider is that she has a lot of attacks for a Tanker with surplus of attacks beyond the attack chain. If I were to attempt to soft-cap her defenses, the Greater Fire Sword will go away (Incinerate wins out in the DPS vs GFS, if you're wondering). I did sort of build her to have the last 3 powers and the corresponding slots to be flexible in the power selections. Otherwise, most everything will kind of stay the same, I think.

As for her background, I've decided that her origin will be Technology based... the Fiery Melee powers is a part of the Shield which is an artifact from the future that this character found somehow. Yeah, boring. Whatever. I'm just working on the fly here! Also, of course, this character will be a female.

I wish I can play her already!...

Download Mid's Data Link for the New Main

Titan Icon

I tried to hold off for as long as I could, but guess what I'm doing now?...

Yep, I'm going on to download Titan Icon.

Titan Icon is a freestanding executable file created by Codewalker which allows players of City of Heroes to access the character creation module of City of Heroes and to be able to enter and view the maps of City of Heroes. The program files and maps of City of Heroes were distributed for free to anyone who wished to play for free by NCsoft while the game was in operation.

My old computer with the i23 install is still at my parent's house (I think). So I didn't install Icon because space is limited in my new computer. Also I held out because I didn't want to make myself sad from all the reminiscing. But the "busy" season for work is starting to taper down, and my new hard drive finally came in, so.. well.. here I am.

I wonder if this is going to make me cry =(

All Your Base Belong to Us

More screenshots.

These are just some oldies back when Super Group Bases debut. I was the architect of the base for my SG and SVG at the time. We were sort of medium-large sized and very active, so I had a bit of prestige to work with right off the bat.

Here's the first iteration of the Super Group base for the Paragonian Knights.

The Energy Room

The Workshop

Resurrection Chamber

The Control Room

The Teleportation Chamber (that also doubled as a gathering room, if I recall correctly)

The Bird's Eye View

When we got the hang of the base builder, we eventually added more rooms and such:

The Great Hall. Many ceremonies and stuff were held here. 

So I also play the Sims (starting from the 1st one) and coming from that to the CoH/CoV base builder was somewhat of a shock. It's limited, yes, but you know what? It's great for what it was, an add on to an existing game that added value and another dimension of fun to an already fun game.

Here's the pictures for the SG base for Villain side of the Paragonian Knights, the Rogue Knights:

Entrance, first view

Entrance

Control Room, pic 1

Control Room, pic 2

Control Room, pic 3 (I guess I really liked the control room)

Crafting Room

Energy Room

Resurrection Chamber

The bird's eye view

Just a random picture of the RK's TP room. It seems like I was very happy that we finally gained access to all of the zones in CoV. 

After leaving the PK around 2008 (or so?) and taking an extended hiatus from the game (about 6 months), I came back and made my own private SG with my brothers and we had made our own SG base. By that time, the bases were much more affordable and it was very possible for a micro SG to have the bare essentials in their home base. 

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures of my private base, other than what was mentioned in this post, but by the time of the sunset, it I do recall that it was about the size of the early PK/RK bases seen above. 

It was very nice to have a little home of my own. Those were good times. Ugh, I miss this game.