Dante

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If you think about it, it's what little kids do. They see something new they don't understand, they poke it with a stick!

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In which case we should demand a 'pointy stick' emote so that I can go to PD and poke them back with it.

Griefer: "cm to arena wv me, Ill pwnz u."
Me: /em poke
Griefer: "Hey!"
Me: /em poke
Griefer: "Ow! Cut it out!"
Me: /em poke, /em poke, /em poke...

(Just a bit of levity to an otherwise unhappy thread. )

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Hover isn't actually as bad as people seem to think. I have a Fire/Fire Brute who Hovers all the time (mostly for concept and also for the psuedo KB protection).

Once slotted with SOs, I have three in Hover and also three in Swift, the speed is actually more than respectable. I can easily keep up with the "runners". To put it into perspective, it is fast enough that sometimes I forget that I haven't switched to fly and start Hovering towards the next mission.

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I do this with my Kat/Dark Scrapper and although the spin in the air is annoying, it's nowhere near as annoying as landing on your butt and having to get up again. With 3 Fly SOs, the speed's not bad as BM says. It's just a shame that until now, Knockback protection dictated travel power. Now, just to get hold of those precious IOs....

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And same with the latter, including the problems of dealing with them that you and FFM mentioned. Personally? I hide behind a staircase and take a look about Pocket D, listening and looking to see who's there. If there's people I know of, I go up. If there's people I don't know of, but they're roleplaying to a reasonable standard after some observation, I'll head up. Most nights? I just think "Urgh... I can't be bothered..." and head off. Maybe that's me being elitist, maybe it's just me trying to ensure I don't get fustrated and annoyed with something I do for fun.

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Unfortunately, this is what I tend to do these days as well. It reminds me of those times when I walk into a bar, don't see anyone I recognise and leave. It's a shame and yes, I'm aware of how incredibly snobby it is but given the grief I've had in there recently, it's the only way I've found to cut down on it. Maybe there is some merit in tucking ourselves away in a little corner somewhere but it would be a shame if the griefers and (how shall I put it politely) the less experienced RPers drove us out of somewhere that's pretty much perfect RP space. We should form a brute squad and go there en masse.

And yes, nice bit of analysis Coile, I would wholeheartedly agree. I think that mentality applies to a lot of people when they see something that they don't understand. It's easier to slate something and ridicule it than make the effort to live and let live. *sigh*

Despite the fact that real life has kept me away from the game for a little bit, the few times that I have managed to sneak into D's in the evening have proven to be somewhat of a disappointment. There are certainly less people in there than before and even then I can't always tell whose in there for roleplaying or not. (Although the ones there to be annoying soon reveal themselves, that's for sure.)

I find that going down en masse can help, for example The Militia sometimes gather down there as a group after our team ups and force of numbers can sometimes dissuade disturbances. I rip Broadcast out of my tabs the moment I set my characters up and the judicious use of /ignore function helps to keep the idiots out of my chat box.

What I would certainly welcome would be total and utter power suppression in PD. I know it can be instituted during events and I can't see any need for it to be lifted at other times. Spamming of powers and drive-by buffings annoy me at the best of times, even more so when I'm trying to roleplay.

((Kicks himself for not posting updates more frequently))

Last night saw and evening of new friendships and broken treaties for the Militia. Fortunately, the friendships were on the heroes’ side with newly recruited team members Pyrodancer and Song Thrush joining old hands Force Commander, The Portent, Wild Child and The Amber Banshee for their weekly patrol. Their efforts helped to break not one but two potential treaties between villain groups, ensuring that the forces of evil remain ununited.

Amber was quick to note that Pyrodancer has a somewhat suicidal tendency for leaping into battle and worried about her welfare for most of the evening. However she was more distracted by the company of the Militia’s medical officer Song Thrush and not necessarily because of his mutated wings and vocal capabilities. Having been the target of a hit contract by the Freakshow, she was relieved once they were able to locate the originator of the contract and dole out suitable punishment (a thorough bashing of the eardrums followed by arrest in this case).

Upon progressing to their next target, Amber was set upon by a bunch of Devouring Earth who took an unusual interest in her. Freaked out by her sudden popularity, she did not take kindly to Pyrodancer teasing her about having a fungus infection and other mutation related jokes. The sudden attack by the mutated monsters had shaken her quite deeply and she was relieved to conclude their patrol soon afterwards and retire to Pocket D for a drink.

Actually, while we're here, I'd like to ask about Manoeuvers (sp?). I'm planning on taking Assault and Tactics on my Thugs/Dark but I've always been a bit hesitant about Manoeuvers. Whereas Assault and Tactics give a reasonable buff, Manoeuvers seems to give such a small bonus to defence. Is it a case of every little bit helps or can I leave it out of my build? Thanks.

Oh I wouldn't say it's completely rubbish by any means, if you want to take it, please do. I love nukes but when I'm playing a Defender, I always consider that my first priority is to look after the team and draining my endurance away on an attack that will not have the damage capacity of a Blaster at that level seems to be a waste of time to me. That's just how I play my Defenders but it's certainly not a slight on the power itself.

Besides, as I've said, combined with some of your other endurance drain powers, it is quite survivable and can render your foes unable to attack due to drained endurance.

That is true and with a combination of Short Circuit, Power Sink and the End Mods in Thunderous Blast, it'll probably be quite survivable as anthing left standing will be completely drained. Still, I don't think the endurance cost and retoggling, redebuffing (is that a word?) is worth the damage but then, that's just me.

I play Dark/Elec and if you're looking for damage, you're taking the wrong Secondary. That said, with Power Sink and Short Circuit you can do some mean endurance draining. Elec also has the advantage of another Mag3 hold in Tesla Cage that will stack with Petrifying Gaze and you get another pet in Voltaic Sentinel that isn't targetable by your enemies. However, this really only comes in later levels. As it is, you'll be teaming with a good damage dealer so with two holds (which you seem to be skipping, argh!) and Fearsome Stare, you'll be able to lock down a lot of the aggro while they go to town.

I find that my Dark/Elec is very Controllery and doesn't do very good damage at all. If you want to do better damage, you might want to consider Dark/Sonic. The resistance debuffs in Sonic Blast will stack with the one in Tar Patch and help you to do more damage. Sonic can give you some soft controls too with a cone sleep and a ranged stun. I've tried Dark/Sonic too and it's pretty nice.

I will make a quick comment on Thunderous Blast. As a Defender nuke, it's not going to do huge amounts of damage and by sapping your endurance, two of your best defences, Darkest Night and Shadow Fall will crash, leaving the team almost defenceless. I'm not a fan of Defender nukes for this reason but then you're welcome to disagree.

Good luck.

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Personally I think /DA is a too challenging set for a first time serious scrapper (don't know if that's the case here), but that's only my humble opinion.

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My first character was Katana/Dark and it was a nightmare. Now I'm a bit wiser, it rocks but it does take some management to get over endurance issues. If I want a more pick up and play scrapper I'll take my Claws/Regen. Neither endurance or health are an issue and with Hasten in there, you can tear through mobs quite quickly. However, as in all of these 'recommendations', I always say play what gives you most pleasure. Good luck.

Hi folks.

As usual, altisis has struck again and now that I seem to have figured out that Brutes may well be what I hoped Tanks would be, I think I’d like to try one out and get down with the SMASH action. I do have a couple of questions though if people would be kind enough to help.

I am pretty much sold on Super Strength for my primary but I’m tossing up between Energy Aura and Electric Aura. Neither have a heal as far as I’m aware so Aid Self is a must but is there much between the two of them? From reading the boards Elec seems to be very popular whereas EA is not so favoured. What are the comparative benefits of the two?

I figure that loving your Brute means loving your Fury bar but I just want to clarify how it works and what tactics to run with it. From what I’ve read, Fury increases from both enemy attacks and your own attacks. Does this make a taunt aura a necessity? As it builds with each of my own strikes, does this mean that it’s wise to pick faster, less damaging attacks over heavier, slower recharging attacks?

Any other advice gratefully received.

I missed the start of this? Pants, that's a shame. Hopefully I will be on later on tonight if anyone is around.

Are people teaming every night? I only get a couple of nights on a week if I'm lucky.

TA/Archery is something I've been toying with for a while now so this might be a chance to try it depending on how much free time I have.

Gotta say, I'm pretty tempted.

Very briefly, I'd say that if you want to be passive in battle, go Traps. If you like being active, go Dark. Personally, I'm a big Dark fan, there's nothing quite as satisfying as watching your opponents whiff at your henches while you tear them to shreds. I can't comment on Dark Servant just yet (not long now...!) but I have it on good authority from several people that he rocks.

However, you mentioned Powerpools. If you go Dark, I'd get Fitness too otherwise you might find it tough going, especially if you want to run Leadership toggles along with it.

Hope this helps a bit.

I will occasionally use a badge to give a little hint at what is happening with my characters, "Secret Admirer" before Saff started her relationship or "Multidimentional" before she started jumping dimentions. They're never plot breaking hints but they add a little extra flavour.

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One of the less intrusive 4th Wall Breakers we've seen appear over the past year. This one can, at least, be taken IC.

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I've just thought of another one. War Witch in Pocket D sometimes asks the question, "I'm in a what? Did they draw me well?" which I would take as being a reference to the comic series. So again, a little joke or an indicator that the series exists in game as well.

I would say it definitely exists. The description for the Hamidon Halloween Costume Piece reads something like "Children like to wrap their figures in them and go raiding for Hami-Os" so I figure it's part of the culture. Whether that's an in-game reference or a joke on the part of the devs (or maybe both) can be left to speculation.

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And yes, you can bring villains, as long as they're sociable and won't start talking about who they eviscerated that day.

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Spoilsport!

It depends on playstyle I think. I have a Thugs/Dark and I've just been trying out a Thugs/FF and the secondary really does make a difference to how involved you get. With /Dark, I find I'm busy all the time and so don't even get a chance to launch an attack whereas with /FF, I picked up a couple of attacks because, quite frankly, I was bored.

Interestingly, I was in a PuG the other day with four other Masterminds and people (including myself) started to complain about poor framerate so I dismissed my pets and spent the rest of the mission as a sort of Dark Defender for the team. Bizarrely enough, I still found myself quite busy.

If I had the power slots to spare, I probably would want to keep an attack or two but especially running with /Dark, there is always a far superior power to pick.

Edit: Also, it's worth noting that the amount of endurance these attacks cost for the amount of damage they do really isn't efficient. Once you start getting to foes with stronger resistances it's just not worth it any more IMHO.

This sounds like fun. I know one Banshee who would probably welcome a speed dating evening.

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Certainly 12 point Courier is what I was taught to write scripts in, accurately replicates a typewriter y'see! And the 1 page = 1 minute thing too... Wonder if this thing will have the enforced layout that I learnt too... Where speech is in a narrow column in the middle of the page with the speaker's name in caps above it...

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If it isn't, and someone decides to try and sell that script afterwards, they will get laughed out of the office. I learnt that one the hard way.

Hmmm, not sure how much 20,000 words translates to but my general rule of thumb is that if you write in size 12 Courier font, one page equates to approximately one minute in screen time. That does vary of course, if it's a page full of description it can be done in one shot or equally two lines made to fill out much longer dependent on direction. But approximately 1 page to 1 minute has always worked ok for me. I'll run a word count through one of mine later and see how many words it comes out at.

Interesting. This is far more up my alley. Thanks for the heads up, it'll give me some time to think of a good idea. I got 18 days into NaNoWriMo when I realised that my concept sucked and started all over again.

Absolutely KD, Defenders are famous for not levelling fast or soloing very well as they're team dependent (mostly). I'd love to get my Dark/Elec higher but it really does depend on getting a team together. Don't retire him completely, just maybe have an alt which you can switch to when team players are thin on the ground. And as Miss M said, you've got a great set of powers there. If I was on my blaster, I'd be kissing your feet for the bubbles.

OT, I won't be able to join you all for this one but good luck anyway. Hopefully I'll be able to join you for another TF in the future. Have fun.

Shadowe, Kelvinbridge, thank you. Now I feel less alone in my opinions regarding this.