Blue_Fenix

Update #3

Days so far: 3
Remaining days: 47
Level: 18
Average Levels Per Day: 6
Outlook: Squishy

IC:

Some days, it pays to read the morning paper, and other days it's nothing but trouble. For example, a local tabloid recently ran an 'exclusive interview' with Bobby "Ears" Vinotto, a lieutenant among the Mooks. I had a run in with them a few weeks back over a jewel heist, and Bobby didn't take it very well. He decided to call me out in the paper, calling me all sorts of names and saying I tried to seduce his girlfriend. ******* didn't have the freaking balls to even say it to my face.

Of course, in the Rogue Isles you can't just let slander like that stand. It's business and personal. I tracked Bobby down to an old office building where he'd holed up with some of his grunts and went in alone to teach him a lesson. I blasted through his guards easily. When I found him, Bobby was bragging to his right-hand man about some time he ran into Ghost Widow and managed to not die. What a blowhard. Three minutes later he and his buddies were on the floor. I don't think he'll be doing any interviews again for a while, especially with his jaw and fingers busted.

On the way out, I noticed some crates stacked up in one of the offices. The Family's always had connections to smuggling and contraband, so I popped the lids and rummaged around. There were some guns, bullet-proof vests, that sort of stuff, but the real score was two crates full of high-end medical supplies. They had drugs, bandages, IV's, and even some of those high-tech wound-repairing nanobots that just came on the market a few months back. Strangely enough, as I gathered the supplies up and considered just how much black market value I could get out of them, I realized - I know how to use this stuff. It just came to me, the full details of dosage and interaction warnings, and how to administer an IV. Even the nano-tech felt weirdly familiar.

I ended up holding on to the medical stuff, if only because it seemed to finally give me a link to my past. It's come in handy a few times since then, but what the connection really means is still a mystery to me.

OOC:

Having just filled out all my slots with DO's, I decided it was time to solo a little and gauge my current performance. I ran a few paper missions and realized the following truths:

1) I can kill things fast.

2) I die fast too.

I hit level 18 and picked up Blaze, which definitely improved my damage output a lot, but I'm currently feeling REALLY squishy. I suppose once I pick up Arctic Fog and Sleet, things will get better. For now, I'll just keep teaming or turn the difficulty slider way down when I need to solo.

Update #2

Days so far: 2
Remaining days: 48
Level: 17
Average Levels Per Day: 8.5
Outlook: Easy as pie!

IC:

I should have been more careful. It was less than a week after my last bank robbery and I already had Longbow knocking down my door. None of those green recruits from my Mercy Island days, either; these guys were serious business.

Everyone's told me you're supposed to just shut up if one of the goon squads takes you, no matter what faction they're from. I couldn't keep quiet after what they told me, though. One of the punks I pulled a job with turned out to be a real sicko, spent the money on munitions and blew up a freaking orphanage. I'm not proud of what I've had to do to survive, but I never wanted to be one of those card-carrying, maniacal laughter villains. Longbow offered me a way out. I took it. I squealed.

As soon as I was on the streets again, I pulled out my emergency stash and spent the last bills on a ride over to Cap Au Diable. I couldn't chance my rep in Port Oakes catching up to me after a run-in with the law like that. C.A.D. turned out to not be that much of a change from where I'd been, anyway. Run down, smelly, and full crooks and freaks like me. I decided, this time, I would take charge of the jobs. At least that way I could cut down on the number of madmen I'm forced to trust with my life.

Things have gone well for me here, so far. I've built up some contacts, recruited allies, and pulled a few slick heists. My powers are developing as well - I'm faster than I was, more accurate, harder hitting. Sometimes I can't tell if it's because of all the practice I've had lately, or if things I used to know how are coming back to me, but I've found a few new tricks, too.

This week, I started having flashbacks. Just a moment or two at a time, images of fights and burning buildings, the sound of screams and gunfire. Once, I suddenly remembered dinner with someone (a friend? an enemy?), drinking tea and laughing cynically together at some misfortune. But I can't see his face, or recognize his voice. I still don't know who I am, and I'm not really sure if it matters.

OOC:

A second night of teaming and all is well. I decided to lead instead of follow this time, and I managed to hold together a group of 5 or more (with various additions and losses over time) for at least a couple hours. This pulled me all the way to level 17 before I decided to take a break.

So far, I'm definitely enjoying this character and this build. The changes to how shield powers like Glacial Shield work have definitely made my life far easier. I do find myself occasionally missing the buff on someone who's at range or lagging behind the group, but that's not too hard to fix by just casting it again on them. I get to offer a lot of extra survival to the group with minimal effort, and that feels great.

Offensively, I'm enjoying Fire Ball and Rain of Fire for the sheer AoE BURNING. I picked up Hasten for the sake of having these up more often, but I've skipped out on Fire Breath for now. The Fire Breath animation has always felt too slow and clunky, and I want to have more time available for keeping more important powers in play.

I've also dipped into the medicine pool for Aid Other, which I don't expect to actually slot or use very heavily. My main goal there is to pick up Aid Self eventually, to cut down on the number of times I have to retreat or take time to use rest after grabbing too much AoE aggro. If only I could cast shields on myself.... oh well.

2 days and 17 levels down! I may not be able to play again for a day or two, but this weekend should see some more significant progress.

Any suggestions on things to do once I hit the 20 to 25 range? Zones? Alignment? Powers? IOs? Anything you want to see in my RP?

Update #1

Days so far: 1
Remaining days: 49
Level: 10
Average Levels Per Day: 10
Outlook: So far, so good!

IC:

The shores of Mercy Island are no stranger to the strange. Today's catch - an orb of ice, larger than a man and slightly distended, as if a glacier had laid an egg - lies on the beach. An indistinct figure can be seen through the frosted shell, curled up like a child sleeping. As the day wears on, the heat of sun and sand begins to penetrate the frozen orb, and its surface shines with meltwater.

From the rocks above the shoreline, a woman clad in red floats gracefully down to the sand, her face and body hidden beneath mask and armor. She contemplates this bizarre addition to her island silently for a moment before activating a radio transmitter in her helmet.

"Arbiter Smythe, I've found him. I told you my vision was correct. Send a squad and a medical team immediately. Kalinda out."

*****

The first thing I remember - clearly remember, I mean - is waking in an Arachnos medical bay without a name. Everything before that is a haze, though I know I remember flying. Flying, and falling.

They told me I had washed up on the shore, victim of a shipwreck or something like that, but I don't think I believe it. The next few days were all tests and training. They (and I, I must admit) wanted to see what I could do, and how. How much weight can my wings support? How far away can I call up a snowstorm? How do I generate blue fire that doesn't burn, but freezes? "Magic," they told me, and I laughed bitterly.

Eventually, I got to meet Kalinda. She was nothing but evasive answers and BS about 'destiny'. Sign up, be a team player, rule the world - sorry lady, not my thing. I left as soon as she'd let me, but she insisted we'd meet again. Not if I can help it. The only thing of value I got from Arachnos was a name, and the stupid mook who punched my ID card couldn't even spell that right. I'm 'Blue Fenix' now, and I guess that'll have to do.

*****

Mercy Island itself is a cesspit of chaos. I'd complain more about getting mugged three times in the same day if I actually had anything to steal. At least punching their faces in made me feel better. I even took out a Longbow squad that was rounding up 'suspicious characters'. The smug bastards deserved it, though I suspect they don't waste their best men on petty crooks and outcasts like us.

Things started looking up when I 'negotiated' my way aboard a ferry to Port Oakes. At least there's a smattering of civilization here, fast food joints, tumble-down apartments, and a shipping yard. "No jobs for freaks," though, as I found out from every manager and foreman in town. You'd think they'd pay us a few bucks during the day to do a little lifting and shoving, 'cause as I found out, most of us just come back at night and take what we want anyway.

I managed to find a few like-minded individuals, though none too bright. We can make a living, at least, in between dodging the cops, the arbiters, the Family, Longbow, and the Council. It wasn't long before we got fed up enough to decide we should hit a bigger target. Bank robbery, is, well, kind of thrilling, to tell the truth, and I could finally splurge a bit - hotel room, hot bath, juicy steak, and a warm bed. Even with all that, in my dreams I'm cold. Always cold, and falling.

OOC:

Day 1 of the challenge went pretty smoothly. I decided to roll up a Fire/Cold Corruptor, a combo I'd never played before, for the following gameplay reasons:

-Good balance between damage output and team support (compared to most Blasters or most Defenders)
-Good AoE/Single Target balance
-Able to solo at a pace I find reasonable if no team is available
-I hadn't tried the new AoE team shields yet, and I wanted to see if it made a 'bubbler' more fun
-Fire Blast is known for high damage output
-Cold Domination is known for contributing to both mass-combat (Sleet, shields for allies) and big boss (AV, GM, etc.) fights (Benumb, Infrigidate, and Heat Loss)

As for RP/concept considerations:

-Always wanted a character based on the 'Blue Fenix' screen name I've been using for years, but never had a successful one
-I have Angel wings at level 1 from a vet reward, which fit with the concept and costume well
-Power customization is letting me have blue Fire, so I'm not forced into Ice/Cold to match the concept

Being a Corruptor meant I had to start in Praetoria or the Rouge Isles. I've had issues finding teams in Praetoria in the past, though, so I decide to start villain-side and see how that worked out. I've always got the option to mess with alignment later on anyway, and I'd like to think I'm already hinting at that in my IC writing and how I'm RP'ing the character.

My first night of play was mostly small teams, paper missions, and a couple bank robberies. Getting up to 10 means I'm starting to get a sense of how this guy will play, though of course many defining powers (Blaze, Sleet, T9's, etc.) are far off. I picked up Hover for combat use, and will get Flight as my main travel power eventually. Suggestions on powers and pools, especially ones that could be thematically fitting or unusual builds are welcome.

At this point, I'm having fun and looking forward to working my way up into the teens in the next day or two. 12, 20, and 22 are always big turning points for any character I play, for reasons that should be obvious to those who know the mechanics of this game. I'm also well on my way to the one-level-average-per-day.

Hello, folks!

I am one of those poor pathetic creatures who has never known the joy of hitting level 50. So, to fix this, I am setting myself a challenge: I will reach level 50 in the next 50 days by merely averaging one measly level gained per day. That can't be that hard, right?

Now, it would be silly to think that I'm only going to gain one level on each day that I play. It's also silly to think I have time to play every single day. Thus, by setting the goal of *averaging* one level a day, I can measure my progress while still being realistic.

In order to provide myself with some extra motivation, I've decide to do some mild RP along the way and journal my experiences for you to read and comment on. I will provide in character and out of character updates as often as I reasonably can.

At this point, I've already rolled up the character, a Corruptor with Fire Blast/Cold Domination powers named (obviously enough) Blue Fenix. I will update with the first journal entry tonight or tomorrow.

Rules/Goals for my challenge:
-Try to reach level 50 in the next 50 days!
-Post a journal update for (almost) every day I play on.
-Team whenever possible
-Avoid AE farms and similar ho-hum no-challenge modes of leveling
-Influence will be passed down from higher level characters (and donations accepted) just to save some time
-Don't bother with a fancy IO build - Either slot SO's, Common IOs, or whatever's cheap.
-Have fun!

EDIT: To clarify, that's 50 consecutive real-life days. "Day 1" was August 23rd, and Day 50 will be sometime in October.

Day "6":

"I have yet to meet man who can outsmart bullet"


So, I haven't updated in a few days due to Christmas. Spent a bunch of time with my family, and then went shopping at after-Christmas sales, yadda yadda yadda.

Anywho, I'm back in the game, and the important thing is, I've managed to hit 33 today.

FULL AUTO FTW!

Seriously, it's a really fun power. I've never had a blaster this high level before, so I don't know how the other Tier 9's compare, but Full Auto is certainly awesome.

I'm eating dinner now, and will get back on later tonight I expect. I have until the end of Monday the 3rd to get to 50 before my Winter vacation ends. Think I can still do it, considering New Year's party might get in the way? We'll see.

CURRENT LEVEL: 33

PROGRESS BAR:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ok, thank you both for clearing that up.

I recent had two or three un-investigated tips (I hadn't accepted the mission yet). I gained a level (level 30), then went to train both my builds up. After switching builds and picking powers, I looked at my tip window and the tips were gone.

Has anyone experienced this? I suspect it may be because tips have tiers at different level ranges, and hitting 30 is what cleared them out. It's annoying, though, and I want to make sure it wasn't a bug.

Day 5:

"Why is it I am feeling all depressed today? Vhat could be wrong vith me? Oh, ya, I know! I is not killing anyone in HOURS!"

Day 5 was a sloooow day. I decided level 28 was a good time to rebuild and split off my 'team' and 'solo' builds.

First off, I switched to build 2, and built it for teaming. No more Ignite or Ice Patch, but I managed to fit in Acrobatics, Assault, and Tactics, and better slot my attacks. This is an AoE damage build, above all else.

I spent a significant amount of time and money then franken-slotting my team build with cheap IO's. I think I don't really have enough experience with the IO system yet to be able to slot out a character quickly, and I was distracted with other real life stuff, so it took me quite a while.

After that, I switched back to build 1, used a vet-respec on it, and thereby traded in all the level 25 SO's I had slotted for cash. I decided, though, that I didn't feel like taking the time to franken-slot this one, so I quickly grabbed a bunch of level 30 SO's and headed off to do some Vigilante tips solo.

My solo build uses Ignite and Ice Patch to amazing affect, allowing me to handle +0/x3 with few problems. Some groups are more challenging, though, such as the Sky Raiders. Stupid Porters jumping behind me and ignoring my nicely set-up kill zone. I also managed to squeeze in Acrobatics, Tough, and Weave, which definitely up my survivability quite a bit. Those powers came at the cost of having no melee attacks (which isn't really a big deal) and skipping M30 Grenade (I've got 2 cones + Ignite and M30 is the lowest damage AR AoE) and Shiver.

Finally, after doing my morality mission and becoming a Vigilante, I got on my team build and joined a level 50 team that was fighting Freakshow. Team build was putting out plenty of damage and aggro, but we were lacking in buff/debuff/heals so I died a lot. I tried to use Shiver to debuff, but I felt like it wasn't doing much. Maybe the high-level (51 and 52, with me at 49) Freakshow were resisting the slows? I dunno.

In any case, I made it to 29 and called it a night. Today, more teaming, and Christmas Eve with my family!

CURRENT LEVEL: 29

PROGRESS BAR:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Title says it all. Does the Ignite power from the Assault Rifle set need to be slotted for accuracy? It shows that it *can* be, and I know the stated 2.00 accuracy is B.S. due to the way pets work. However, I'm having trouble finding out if the attacks the pseudo-pet makes need accuracy or are auto-hit.

Anyone know?

Day 4:

"So much violence, is like party in old country!"

"In Snoviet Russia, we have saying: if man still conscious at end, was not good party!"

A teammate mentioned he could not find 'Snoviet Russia' on the map....

"I am from coldest Siberia. You Americans have saying, "when hell freezes over", ya? That is where I come from"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little soloing, some random teaming, a horrible failed bank rescue mission, and BAM, level 25, "halfway" to 50! Later in the day, I eek my way up to 26 and pick up Ignite...

O. M. G. IGNITE. So much damage.

Unfortunately, it turns out to be rather difficult to use effectively on teams. Solo it's great, but with a fast moving group, I often felt that I was not hitting very many targets with Ignite or it didn't have enough time to really do its job before things died from other AoE anyway. I'm considering dropping Ignite and Ice Patch from my 'team' build and maybe picking up some Leadership powers or the Fighting pool.

Anyway, I tried to put together a Citadel TF, which promptly slowed to a crawl when we discovered it was spawning everything at level 30, and I was leading the team at 26. I dinged 27 and thought it would get easier, but nooooooo, TF's apparently level-lock you, which I didn't know. So! We restarted with a higher-level leader and kicked the Council's collective butts. Level 28, and time to start messing around with Shiver!

CURRENT LEVEL: 28

PROGRESS BAR:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Day 3:

Snoviet sets out to save Baby New Year....

"Now THIS is like Mother Russia! Snow! Ice! Siberian snow creatures!"

"Hostage is baby!"

Later, running the Synapse TF full of Clockwork...

"KGB would KILL to have this technology. Well, KGB kill you anyway, but you understand, ya?"

Teaming with a Brute by the name of Clubbin', a discussion about dancing begins on the team...

"In Snoviet Russia, KGB hold dance contest. Winner gets to keep his legs!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What a day! Baby New Year team went well, and I picked up the holiday self-rez (which I got a hell of a lot of use out of already). Also ran the Synapse TF, which took forever but got me up to around 20 or 21. I soloed up to 22 and slotted out with SO's, which as usual made a huge difference in my performance.

Key powers I've picked up are Flamethrower (BWAHAHAHA, BURN!), Ice Patch (lol, pratfalls), and of course, Build Up (with Sniping... BOOM, Headshot). I've also tried out Chilling Embrace, but it doesn't really seem to contribute much, especially on teams. I'm sure it's providing some mitigation, but on teams I tend to either be just fine or dead reeeeeeally fast, so, yeah...

Anyway, I'm starting to consider setting up separate team and solo builds. Team build would focus mainly on AoE damage, while solo build would be a bit more balanced and include more of /Ice's mitigation tools.

Later in the day, I got on a couple of high-level tip teams, and that pushed me up to just shy of 25. I'm almost at the "halfway" point! Now, my next milestone is going to be 26 and Ignite, then Shiver whenever that opens up.

CURRENT LEVEL: 24

PROGRESS BAR:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well, any elemental pairing is going to pop up pretty regularly. For example, Dark/Dark on Scrappers, Brutes, Stalkers, Corruptors, and Defenders.

Aside from that, there are pairings which fit thematically together without being elements Archery, Assault Rifle, or Dual Pistols with /Devices for Blasters, for example.

I'm not really sure which of these 'obvious' pairings show up the most at high levels, though. I rarely play characters above 30 due to my altoholism.

You: Any Scrapper or Brute

Her: Just about any Corruptor, Defender, or Controller.

BAM, you're awesome!

Day 2:

"Vhat is the deal vith these snow beasts and huge pretty boxes? Is ridiculous! Besides, we are having much bigger snow beasts in Siberia."

Second day of the journey started out slowly. I had a hard time finding teammates, but at least I ran into Bee-Line and Waldo Wonder Jr. again. I ended up running enough radios to save another dirty capitalist swine bank (the King's Row branch this time) and pick up the other lowbie jetpack. Then, Waldo and I ran most of the Midnighter Arc. By that time Snoviet had hit level 12, so it was time for new powers, dual-origin enhancers, and lunch!

After lunch and running some errands, I logged in again and decided to solo a little to evaluate my build so far. I've mostly been focusing on the AR powers, especially Buckshot and M30 for the AOE on teams. I'd just picked up the Sniper Rifle power as well, so I wanted to screw around with that. +0/X1 was too easy, so I bumped up to +0/x2 and found myself challenged.

I feel like I'm finally starting to understand Blasters, though. I enjoyed messing around with snipe pulls and tricks like immobilizing a lieutenant and moving around a corner to deal with his minion goons. I also discovered just how powerful immobilizing with Chilblain can be on enemies that lack long range attacks such as "Buckshot" enemies and Outcast Bricks who only hurl a boulder every 15 seconds or so.

I wrapped up Midnighter and did a couple more solo missions before deciding to jump back on a team. This time, I stumbled across an almost-full group doing radios and quickly grabbed two more levels. Endurance is definitely starting to be an issue for me, especially when I run Hasten, but I'm sure that will ease up once I have enough slots to put EndRedux in my attacks.

Oh, and running between missions at ground level without Super Speed or Stealth SUCKS for blasters. I definitely racked up a bit of debt trying to Ninja Run across the tougher parts of Steel Canyon.

In any case, at level 15, I realized.... it's time to pick up a friend from the airport! So, I stopped there, and will continue again today.

CURRENT LEVEL: 15

PROGRESS BAR:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Day 1:

A selection of quotes and thoughts from Snoviet's inner monologue, all in stereotypical Russian accent.

"This bureaucracy almost as bad as KGB. Just because I am having super-powers, I must register in order to beat people up? This is crazy like bull!"

"Ms. Liberty? Bah, what a silly American name. But then, she is having nice legs...."

(Teaming with other heroes, and getting beat) "You know, we are having saying for times like this in Mother Country. In Snoviet Russia, !@#$ you!"

"What? They vant us to stop a bank robbery? Dirty capitalist swine can't protect their own money hoards! Ah, vell, at least we vill have plenty to shoot at...:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, I rolled up Snoviet as a Hero in Atlas Park (can't wait for 20 so he can fall to Vigilante). Messed around beating up some Hellions, then made a sewer team consisting of 4 blasters, a controller, a scrapper, and a tanker. We did the usual sweep and ran up to level 7-ish before we got sufficiently lost to decide to move on.

The team headed over to King's Row for some radios. The scrapper dropped out, and the tanker switched to his blaster. Thus, the team window looked something like

Blaster
Blaster
Blaster
Controller
Blaster
Blaster

I thought we might have a little trouble, but what the hell, let's do this. Turns out, it was AWESOME. Blasted our way through three radios pretty darn quick, then off to rescue Atlas Park bank and the dirty capitalist swine who work there. By that time, I had to log off for a going-away party for a good friend, but I was very happy with getting to level 9 and picking up a Jetpack. Next up: Steel Canyon, more Radios, and maybe Positron?

CURRENT LEVEL: 9

PROGRESS BAR:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

THANKS FOR TEAM GOES OUT TO:
Enerlect
Waldo Wonder Jr
Bee-Line
Agent Sawl
Lord Repulse
Death of Them
USA Brawler

Alrighty, I've settled on a character. I rolled up an Assault Rifle/Ice Manipulation blaster named...

Snoviet!

His backstory involves a Siberian Super Solider Project gone wrong. I wrote a fun little bio for him as well as a cool costume. Perhaps I'll post screen shots later. In any case, off to start the great journey!

EDIT: Here's the copy-paste of the bio. And a screen-shot! The little red symbol on his jacket is a hammer-and-sickle of course.



(A well-groomed man steps out of the snow and into a dive bar. He proceeds to a table and sits across from a large drunk brute. They speak with Russian accents)

"I am agent Markovitch, KGB. You are Mr... ah... Blodfist, no?"

(The brute grunts)

"I am having need of your, ah, special talents, as it were. We have an AWOL soldier who must be... dealt vith"

(The brute takes another shot of vodka and holds out his hand. The KGB agent hands him a folder)

"Mr. Timotovitch was a product of our Siberian Super Soldier Project, cancelled, I'm afraid, due to certain, vell, psychological concerns. He is now reported to be in America, under the most ridiculous alias of 'Snoviet'. You can take care of this matter for us, ya?"

(The brute grunts again, derisively)

"Payment, of course, vill be half now, there in the folder, and half upon completion. This is acceptable, no? Good."

(The agent stands to leave, but pauses when the brute speaks for the first time)

"You vant I should kill him slowly?

Hi everyone! Here I am, with two weeks of Winter Break ahead of me and little else to do.

I have NEVER hit level 50 on any of my dozens of toons. Altoholic? Definitely.

So! Here's the plan! I'm going to roll up a new character within the next 24 hours, and do nothing but level him or her for the next two weeks. Along the way, I will journal my experience.

Step one is going to be picking an AT and powersets. I've played a bit of everything, but especially melee in the past, so I'm looking for something a bit different. If you can sell me on a non-melee, non-Kheldian build, your name will go first on my supporters list! Feel free to suggest concepts and names to go with the build as well.

Step two of course is playing and journaling. I will play with pick-up groups whenever possible, solo when I can't, and share the story with all of you! I've got plenty of inf lying around, but in the interest of time I'm going to focus on just using SO's, basic IO's, and maybe a little franken-slotting or a couple of the more obvious, cheaper uniques (Performance Shifter +End, for example). I'll be sure to ask for advice as I need it, though, to help me put together a competent build. Expect daily updates (except perhaps on Christmas or days I don't actually play) to keep you apprised of my progress!

Supporters, great teammates, and advisors will be thanked by listing their names here. If you want to find me in-game to help out or just team up, my global is @Blue_Fenix. I'll post the character name as soon as it's been picked.

Don't let me down, Virtue!

CURRENT LEVEL: 0

PROGRESS BAR:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

GREAT WALL OF SUPPORTERS:

I'm pretty sure WoW tracks threat for healing, debuffs, and crowd control, but not buffs and other forms of support. However, the amount of 'threat' generated by healing is usually way way less than what a DPS class will generate through damage output.

I think adding a *tiny* amount of taunt to healing, buffs, and AoE support toggles like Force Field Generator would be great. Something like 10% of what a Scrapper/Tanker/Brute taunt or aura generates. This would mean that enemies taunted by those classes, or currently engaged by DPS would be fairly unlikely to go after the healer, but the occasional un-engaged enemy will.

Such a change would likely increase the importance of dedicated tanking classes to some degree, as well as increase the challenge level of playing a defender or other supporting class.

I'd like some advice on choosing an APP for my Shield/WM, as she's closing in on the 40's. She's currently got almost-soft-capped defenses, no endurance problems, and moderate damage. She has very little +Recharge, and no global accuracy bonuses.

This is a hero-side only character.

With the above in mind....

Which APP has the best AOE control?

Which will contribute the most to my damage output (especially AOE)?

Focused Accuracy and Physical Perfection: Worth it as compared to getting more attacks/controls/debuffs from the other APPs?

I believe making sure every guide is labeled with the Issue number that was current when the guide was last updated is sufficient. Legacy information should be retained for the sake of legacy/archive itself, if nothing else.

That said, I am disappointed with how few new guides have been written lately. Yeah, there's a few great ones regarding the new Alignment system and what-not, but there's not nearly enough build guides for the newer or more recently proliferated power sets.