Col_Blitzkrieger

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Agreed.. brutes are designed to be hit, but their MAIN function is to do the hitting; therefore "being hit" really is more of a result of hitting than being hit being their primary concern. Remember too that there is a whole lot more to being a tank than just "being hit". As a tank your primary function is to not just "be hit", but "Make sure you're the one that is hit over your team mates".

Brutes are far more like scrappers than tankers in that regard; they just share the tanker power sets.

[/ QUOTE ]For the record I was agreeing with your general point, in case that was unclear. Just saying.

Brutes ARE designed to be hit (Furyyyyy), but overall they're a DPS class, even though they CAN tank. They're a kind of bridge between Tankers and Scrappers, though leaning to the offensive side.
But then from my experience Villains have more of a hybrid feel to them in general.

They're both fairly similar in concept. I have little experience with /regen, and even then it's mostly with the Stalker version, but it appears to have less mitigation and more actual healing.
Willpower apparently has more mitigation, though still less than most other defensive sets. However, the things which make Willpower really cool are the aura, which gives you huge amounts of regeneration when you're surrounded by many mobs, and the passive health boost power, which, when slotted right, can give as much as 30% bonus maximum health. And that's passive, mind you. Finally, Willpower gives large amounts of Psionic resistance and defense.
Note that both sets have Fast Healing and Quick Recovery. Both seem pretty just as easy to play as eachother. I just like WP more myself, partially because the concept of shrugging off pain because you're just that focused/[censored]/in touch with your inner chakra or whatever is really cool.

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Ninjitsu has lots of +def, and a self heal. This makes it by far the best stalker defensive set.

[/ QUOTE ]Juuuuuuust wondering, does this apply to PvP as well or is Regeneration (or something else?) considered "better"?

1) I'm not exactly sure why we can't just use our other costume slots for this. Any good RP-er knows that they're not supposed to magically sense IC that guy in the T-shirt and jeans is the same person as that mysterious unknown guy in the full-body battle armor and face-concealing visor.

2) A direct copy with only animation changes wouldn't really be worth the development time at this stage, it would fit better for when/if we ever get Power Customization, possibly with a rename of the set to a more weapon-neutral name.

3) Yes, I've been advocating a Monstrous claws option for ages now. Freddy Krueger style nails would be neat too. BAB said that (one of?) the main issue(s?) is that the fists of the characters are closed when using Claws attacks. I wonder if they could just build an open hand model on top of the fist, so the fist underneath is not visible and it looks like your hands are open. Then again, I heard a rumor that the developer in charge of modelling/costumes hates furries for whatever reason. Meh.

4) Skeletal options, as well as more Skeletal Robotic options are a popular idea, plus I don't see any reasons why we couldn't get them.
However, Full Robes are a very popular request that has been suggested for aeons now. If it were that simple to put them in without clipping issues, I'm sure they would have done it by now... Or?

5) Not sure what you mean with this.

6) Cool idea. Would let people wear their SG insignia with pride while still having their chest wrapped in barbed wire.

7) I don't like this. No really good reason other than me already liking the currently existing ones better.

8) Would be great for giving items from one character to another without opening a second game and borrowing my brother's account. Less bothersome. I like it.

9) Lol.

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Positron.

[/ QUOTE ]Absolute pushover with /Elec Armor. :P

12 GMT? Ouch... Getting up at 10 AM on a sunday sounds painful. But Badges are Badges. I'll try to be there if possible.

Not exactly like regular SOs, as IOs often tend to have two or more bonuses on them (which are smaller than if they had a single bonus, but it adds up to more in total), or a proc/special bonus.
A proc or "procedure(?)" is basically stuff like "30% chance to deal some additional Negative Energy damage when using a power with this enhancement slotted in it" and such. It's not always damage, and there are also beneficial procs for heals and buffs and other such powers.
By special bonuses, I'm simply referring to stuff you won't find on non-invention enhancements, such as passive global recharge increase (Luck of the Gambler).

Look them up on http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/I...hancement_Sets or Mid's Hero Designer, it's pretty easy to understand after a while and you can probably think of some fun combinations for your character and playstyle (and wallet).

Electric Melee is an AoE-heavy set. The single target damage isn't great, but the AoEs and the coolness of the tier 9 power more than make up for it in my opinion. AoE goes well with the Brute playstyle of jumping into a large pack of mobs, letting them wail on you to pump up your Fury so you can take them all out with a bang.
Energy Melee is pretty much THE Single Target burst damage spec. It also has stuns built into every single attack (I think), so it offers a good amount of mitigation in that way as well. You may or may not like the pink glowy pom-poms that surround your fists when you're in combat.
Electric Armor is a nice resistance based set. While it lacks a heal or +regeneration, it grants you many goodies, such as immunity to endurance drains, Power Sink which will pretty much fill up your Endurance bar when used against 2 mobs if slotted with EndMod, meaning more SMASH! to go around. Short enough recharge to eliminate any Endurance issues. Another fun thing that benefits the Brute playstyle is Lightning Reflexes, a passive runspeed and recharge boost. Runspeed is good for melee ATs in general, and the +recharge means you can attack faster, and therefore build Fury better. You also get capped Energy Resistance, and trust me, Energy damage is veeeeery common, and often used by those factions that are considered more annoying in general. The set is a late bloomer, though.
Willpower is quite possibly the most newbie-friendly protection set in the game. It offers a sick amount of +regen when surrounded by mobs (which a good Brute should be at all times), as well as Quick Recovery, which combined with Stamina will make sure you will not have Endurance problems, ever. It also offers a huge amount of protection against Psionics, as well as Fear resistance which is rare. The actual mitigation of the set is somewhat low, but can easily be improved with Tough and Weave from the Fighting pool (and with QR+Stamina you will be able to run those toggles just fine in addition to those from Willpower). The set really begins to shine once you get Rise to the Challenge, your taunt aura.

Fury is always active, though an empty bar doesn't do anything.
Fury can go from 0 to 100. Each point of Fury increases your base damage by 2%. A full Fury bar, in theory, would increase your base damage by 200%.
However, fury decays at an increasing rate the higher it gets. Therefore, a full bar of Fury is rarely if ever seen. Typically, when soloing with a decent attack chain you'll cap at ~85 Fury. Still, that's only 30% of a damage boost you're missing, so you should still tear things up quite nicely.
IF I recall correctly, you gain 4 Fury per attack YOU perform, and 2 Fury per attack directed at you by enemies. Taunt is useful in teams to keep mobs on you, so you can gain and keep Fury efficiently.
Maintaining Fury can get you into a rush mentality, but do consider your teammates and your endurance bar. An empty Fury bar is still better than an empty Health bar.

EBs tough for a Brute? Huh? Just pop some purples if your resists against a particular EB's damage is low.

As far as DB being broken in PvP goes - so is Fury. So overall it still keeps with the Brute theme, heh.

Awesome, dude, thanks a lot! I have to say, I've been a big fan of your avatars for a while now, so I'm more than thankful for having one myself.
Thanks again, love your work.

Weapons to go with the katana for thematic reasons?

Personally I sort of like Conserve Power from Body Mastery. But that's just me.

Went with Rad/Rad, named Half-Life. Thanks for all the advice and helpful information, people. It was a real tough choice between Dark and Rad even with your help, though. :P

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DM has to take them down one by one

[/ QUOTE ]Full Fury + Shadow Maul.

Can't go wrong with Dark Melee/Super Reflexes.
Dark Melee's To Hit debuffs combined with Super Reflexes' +Defense will make you nigh untouchable. Also, DM's end drain will make SR's toggles easier to run and SR's Quickness power will make said end drain recharge faster. Coolness.

Also Shadow Maul looks awesome when you use it, assuming it doesn't miss.

[Edit]: The heal's considered a little rubbish by some players, though. Just a word of caution. You can always try it out and respec it out later if it doesn't live up to your needs/expectations.

Alright, so now it's a toss-up between Sonic/Dark and Sonic/Rad...

Again, I've never actually played a buff/debuff AT past level 6 or so, so I'm going by what looks good on paper...

Both have AoE heals, Rad's doesn't require you to hit the enemy though so it can't 'fail'. However, Dark's gives -regen to the target (among other debuff effects) from what I've heard, so spamming it has two uses, topping up HP and keeping the AV/GM from regenerating.
Rad has Accelerate Metabolism, a nice little PBAoE buff for Recovery among other useful effects, such as making the MM's pets stronger.
Tar Patch appears to be very popular, even though I'm a bit mistrusting about targeted AoE debuff zone things that stuff can theoretically walk out of... But I'm assuming the slow effect is good enough to take care of that.
Rad has 3 debuff toggles, Dark has one. Dark seems easier on the endurance for this reason, whereas Rad's debuffs would be easier to keep up all the time. Not sure how well AM + Stamina would take care of Rad's end costs.
I'm not all too impressed with the looks of the last 5 powers in Dark Miasma. How useful are fears and holds on non-control oriented ATs against AVs and GMs? And how useful is the group stealth power when teamed with a Mastermind?
Both sets have a resurrect, though Dark's looks uncomfortable to use, if more powerful. But I plan to duo with this guy most of the time, so I don't really need an AoE resurrection... Why do you say Howling Twilight is an AV killer?
Also, does EM Pulse mean that Rad has better -regen in total when needed? When would you use it, anyway?

----------------Primary-------------Secondary
Blaster-----Radiation Blast--Radiation Manipulation(?)
Controller-------N/A-------------Cold Domination
Defender--------Traps-------------Assault Rifle
Scrapper-Battle Axe/War Mace-------------?
Tanker ------Broadsword-----------Super Reflexes
Brute-----------Claws--------------------?
Corruptor-----Don't care------------FORCE FIELD
Dominator-Illusion Control----------Dark Assault
Mastermind-------N/A--------------Sonic Resonance
Stalker-------Ice Melee--------------Ice Armor

Alright, so overall the popular combo seems to be Sonic/Rad... Thanks all. I'll wait and see if I can get any more opinions/suggestions before making it... Considering I still need to think of a concept and appearance to go with the sets.

Sonic/Rad's gonna need some thinking to get the character to make sense...

You know, even if they don't change Chain Induction into Assassin's Induction or something, I doubt the bouncing bolt would have any negative effect on Hide. CI appears to use a similar system as Confuse, meaning that the damage dealt to the mob it jumps to counts as dealt by the mob it jumps from.
This is also why CI:
1) reduces experience earned from mobs hit by the bounce, similar to how Confused mobs' attacks do, and
2) bounces onto players off Confused mobs, as the bounce works as an attack executed against friendly entities.

As Hide suppression requires the player him/herself to be attacking something (...Or in PvP, to have a debuff on something? something about Placate being bugged that I heard.) I reckon CI's bouncing bolt wouldn't be a problem.

Update:

Similar to how Kheldian Epic Archetypes have special enemies in the form of Void Hunters, Villain Epic Archetypes (Wolf Spiders and Blood Widows) will take extreme bonus damage from PvP attacks. This is to accurately simulate the feeling of being mindless fodder of the Arachnos faction for player characters to bulldoze through, and to give Heroes an advantage in PvP. Seriously, they're Heroes. Good guys always win in the end. They have to.

Actually, on the topic of Dual Blades not fitting Brutes...

...What the heck do you think Red Caps are?

You want to feel like the Flash?
DM/SR + Speed + Sands of Mu veteran award.
Shadow Maul + Flurry + Sands of Mu + Quickness passive.
Get enough recharge to chain those with minimal breaks between attacks.
Enjoy.

Haha @ Grounded Stalkers.

I PvP for badges. I have built-in Psi resists. Blasters do not have built-in Get-Crushed-By-Metal-Fists resists. Psi Blasters becoming the new fotm = more PvP badges for me. Yay!