ArchLight

I do not understand what you mean by softcapped on resistance. Brutes cap on Resistance is 90%. My SS/Elec has more S/L than this with out that Unique.

When IO's first came out I started work on my favorite Brute a L50 SS/Elec and quickly realized that I could not afford the L50 IO's for sale I then (early days of the market) settled on L30-33 and found a lot for sale there for a more reasonable price. Since I did do a little PVP every now and again I stayed in that range and did my first IO redition on her.

Now days the L27-33 recipes can be nasty expensive. I still tailor my characters to be able to exemp to the mid 30's just in case but avoid the high priced IO's. I also have more than the 2 million I started my first IO project with.

I play most for the journey but like my favorite and a few other 50's I have decided that roughly once a month I should take some time and one week only play my 50's on a rotating basis. This will help cover the expenses of up and coming character projects plus keep me in touch and familar with previous projects.

I have one character that is collecting Temp powers kind of like how others collect badges. So these are just more sauce for the goose.

While I do feel the drop rate is a little high I have not gotten all I want or stocked up on the ones I want surplus of yet. Feel free to change it with the next issue.

Wow I have to say I have missed most of the OP other fun filled threads. Its one thing to have a point and its another to tilting at windmills aginst the advice of what I consider the most knowledgeable players on the forums. I also might not agree with everyone one of them all the time but I do respect their collective wisdom and consider what they are saying and why when I am at odds with their advice or wisdom.

In this case END is major consideration in this game. Its one of your two critical statistics for a reason. Back in Issue 2-3 when I did not know what I was doing was the last time I had the issues you describe. I do have these issues on most of my lobie Brutes but I know its self inflicted and I can compensate for it.

While were on the topic of END my personal take on END. It is more important to me than my Green bar in so many ways. If I have END or can manage my END to the point I do not need to watch my Blue bar then most of my Green bar problems are not a problem. To me if I have blue I can usually do something about my green. Afterall I am trying to build a relentless/unstoppable Hero/Villain I certainly should have to work on my endurance and stamina abilities to fight on with out wheezing.

In this statement I am not agreeing with the OP I do not see END issues as the problem described or even tedious. I am a good player but not a great player and I have figured this out.

The DEV team certainly does use your END bar against you. Bad guys attack your abilities in a variety of ways through your health your stamina or mezz.
Red side post L39 END draining foes are more prevelent than ever they do this on purpose. Other than avoiding Malta or Carnie mission most figure out how to compensate when fighting such resourceful foes.

I see few BA brutes as well I have a BA/Elc and once my fury gets going its hell on wheels packing in things close to me an one shotting three at a time. A lot of the AV/Hero class targets have no resistance and I go oh wow can I cut loose.

My friends can tell when I am keeping a high level of fury because mobs just melt.

I do have a WM concept I am going to work on post going rogue.

Not to mention i love the unlockable axe options mine is the Rularuu with the moving eye.

When I first saw your page of images some time ago I copied as many off as I could because I was worried you would get shut down or the page would not be maintained and those images would be lost.

While I doubt all of your idea's will translate into player costumes there are so many bits and pieces of your work that could. Some of my favorite works of yours are the Cuppa Jo, Web Aura and the Ice shoulder and hat combo. With so many great costumes on that page to choose from I also like new techtonic you just did as well as your Evil Positron.

I think my favorite aspect is the attention to detail on the base costume aspects. A variation tweak here or outright brand new patterns that stand out the most. While I like the glowing colors and stuff these are what draw my eye.

I also really like the asymetrical Eagle without the arm ribbons. That pattern is another stand out for me.

One wish of mine is to be able to get the segmented look of the Robotic arms and matching gloves to the lower body.

Welcome to the game hope you have fun and stay a long time.

Wow my SS/Elec usually fights +2x6 all comers except the toxic's. My BA/Elec generally does +1x6 or 0x8 I just love a crowd for her AOE nothing like one shotting 3 at a time.
My SM/Elec generally does +3x3 smaller crowds for the sinlge target beat down.

Of my 5 Brutes with Electric armor past L38 only one took Surge. I did not slot it and its a place holder for my Steadfast. Things have to get really nasty for a long time to require Power Surge. In normal play I might go through several 3 hour gaming sessions before I decide to use it.

While I do not use it much there have been some very memorable times. Like the time I faced down the Vindicators on the LRSF. The team wiped and I said I would hold them off so the team could regroup. It was a nice plan but to many of the team decided to watch me go splat. When I did not go splat quickly from all four pounding on me they then stayed to watch. Eventually I had to pop PS and then my timer was running. Once the icon started to flash I made for the door.

So it has its uses.

Even back in Issue 7 with out aid self I totally loved my SS/Ela Brute. Now days she is my favorite and one I continue to fall back on and play. I have a modest IO build that I built when IO's came out and tweaked a little here and there.

I think my out of pocket was around 150M for this build. Loads of fun especially with all the potential end draining opponents in the COV 40+ game.

Not to mention you seem built to crush Rikti.

60 plus months here as well. I play on Infinity but I am only RED side and I am a West coaster. I play about 5 days aweek from 10-1:00 Pacific longer on weekends.
My handle is my global if you or anyone else plays villains I like to team.

In fact most of the time I am the only one flying the green looking for missions flag.

I have not played Empathy and do not expect to. To many bad Empathy have tainted it for me.

I have tried several times before the nerf to Energy melee to like it but I just do not like the jump in the air animations or the wait. Post nerf I do not think I will give it a try again outside of the Mind/Energy Dom I already have.

Ice Blast I liked it right up to the Ball lighting throw animation. For some reason I cannot get past how that looks.

I also do not like Ice armor or Stone due to the fact they cover the costume.

Sets I have tried and might try again for theme reasons despite their issues.
Dark Blast. RAD Blast.

The other side of the coin are sets I really like.
Fire Blast, Psi Blast, Sonic Blast, Fire Melee.
Super Str, Stone Melee, Dark Melee,
Electric Armor, Fire Armor and Will power.
Kinetic's over and above any other support set, RAD, Sonic and FF.

For myself I would like to see.

Psi for Corruptors leads the way and is far out in front of all requests. My PSI/KIN Corruptor has been a waiting concept since COV beta when I learned she could not be.
FF for Corruptors
Illusion for Dominators
Fire for Defenders and Thermal.


Others I would like to see but do not have concepts ready to play.
Spines for Brutes.
Dark for Blasters.



While its not a proliferation Dark as a Control set for Dominators and Controllers. Dark for other AT offers so much control already it seems a shame it has not been done yet.

What server are you on?

I have a few Electric's and prior to IO's once I hit L22 and could slot SO's in my armors things were pretty good. L22-25 were usually spent in BB killing Shivan's and getting the time badge. Before PVE in PVP got so messed up.

I also took tough at L22.

Even in the days of SO's I only planned on taking Surge on one of my 5 Electric armor brutes. As mentioned above on the one I kept Surge on its solely for that OH $hit moment when my tray is shot demonic is long gone etc.

As mentioned by the Doctor it has its uses I am not saying the power does not have its place. But like other tier 9 powers this that crash Unstoppable, Elude, etc I skip most of them because that crash is not part of my play style.

While the crashes are mitgatable with a little prep I agree with Tonality if it really gets thick an INSP is usually of more use. Instead of using INSP to bridge or recover from the crash.

Wow my Snark O Meter just broke and it was brand new.

The sets I would like to use are too expensive. Kinetic Combat's Dam/End/Rech alone is over 100 mil right now. However, for your budget, this is about as survivable as you can get.

I wonder why they are so high now days the last one I bought was 15M. I know someone who said they bought all the triples on the market. hmmmm......

I love Brutes they are my favorite followed closely by Widows, Dominators, Corruptors Blasters and Defenders. I have a lot of them now all in various stages of development.
I have listed them in the order I created them. Unless noted all of these are on Infinity server.

L50 SS/DA Arch Widow my first brute made day one. But my playstyle and DA are not a good match. IO's revived this character who sat in the low 40's since Issue 7.

L40 Fire/Fire Brazamal fun at first but I have not been able to get going with him in a long time. because of the heavy DOT I developed a rotating fighting style for him.
L40 Dark/Dark Iron Jack Rackham my undead superspeedster pirate. Yes he can run fast on a peg leg.

L50 SS/Elec Arc Voltinator my first villain to 50 and my villain main. I love playing this character and have the most hours on this one than any other. Also my main IO crafter she crafts all my IO projects.

L50 SM/Elec Admatine Force. I had so much fun with my last electric I had to do another. He is very single target focused but still a lot of fun. Also where I developed my speed brute concept.

L23 Fire/Elec MegaHurtz a test to compare to a friends Fire/Elec.

L44 SS/FA Exquisite Widow one I just had to try and one I leveled up with a new to the game friends SS/FA. But my friend is not very good at melee and does not play his much so I have been slowly tinkering with this one and leveling it up.

L38 FM/DA Balor Doom Beast. This is my Balrog concept and is getting to be a lot of fun once I did some IO shifting around and a few respec's

L38 SS/INV Incredible Magnitude This was made after the repair to INV and to compare to a similarly built /Elec. Both have similar costumes based on my main PnP Champions character.

L41 SS/Elec Crushing Magnitude. The other half of my test and you can tell which one I like more. This one is a different slotting focus than my main SS/Elec to test out alternate set slotting.

L38 SM/WP Clown Smasher a fun dip of my toe into WP. Once again single target smash focused.

L50 BA/Elec BlitzKrieg Storm a slow to get going fury character but once I get my fury on look out.

L30 Claw/WP Red Stripes. My current brute project.

TEST Server
L35 DB/WP Drop Dead Mike gaunt looking mobster in pinstripes and tails. Who confirmed for me I cannot stand the sound of DB repeatedly.

I also have a few others on alternate servers that get little play time. I have also deleted a EM/Elec, EM/EA a few Dark/Dark until the one above stuck with me.

After my Claws concept my next will be a DM/SR built as a super speedster.

Its not about RP deaf ears I guess. Oh how the times they are a changing.

Just wow I am so surprised to see this demand for taunt expressed here. I have to say I have noted more and more players using taunt.
Taunt and corner pull was the main method of several teams I ran into recently. When I asked why were doing it this way they all said it was safer. Plus it kept aggro off the Squishies (oh please). I asked a few more questions and decided it was best not to disturb them after the mission was over I left to have some fury filled fun.

Other teams the leader is a Brute playing tank. Taunting etc when asked about it they know no other way to play. I give talking about Red tactics a try but most are experts and do not want to listen. Those that do I add to my global.

I have seen for some time more and more obvious Blue side teams playing Red side. More should check out the Red side I do think they could realise there are some potential gains to using Red side tactics.


Maybe it has not been said loud enough or often enough but being a brute is all about the SMASH. Were fricken engines of destruction. Anything that slips my aggro the team should be able to handling. Otherwise why are they on my team, am I doing all the work?

Gaining and keeping fury has never been a problem with out taunt. When I play a squishy COV side its sure nice to have a brute on the team. But I do not need or want them to play tank.



So in closing SMASH, SMASH, SMASH.