Dechs Kaison

Much happier than I was, yes. Apologies for the ... perhaps excessive reaction. I just couldn't imagine seeing three Dark Armor builds in a thread and not a one with the Theft of Essence proc. That one IO is a very emphatic game changer for Dark Armor. I cannot stress that enough.

As for the rest of your build, I can't really comment on it. I don't have mids with me here at the office and I haven't been having much time outside of the office to go over builds. What I can do for you is point you to an old build of mine... It's actually the build that was used in my "Dark Armor Sucks" video. Now it's old, so it doesn't have inherent fitness. But I figure it can give you some ideas at the very least.

We'll call that a slip of the tongue. Or fingers. Whatever. Good catch, though.

I think I'm going to keep it to roles. Melee DPS will be pretty simple, I'm not even sure it's worth writing a guide for that. Control and support will take some work but I do foresee a payoff.

I already have The MFing Warshade guide, which is its own role. I have some ideas what I'll do for the other EATs:

Soldiers: Take toggles, turn them on, herp derp faceroll keyboard, win.*
Peacebringers: Reroll as rad/nrg blaster, color effects blue/white, call it a day.*

*These comments should be read heavy with sarcasm.

Indeed. When I say the tank's responsibility is to keep everyone alive, it doesn't take that responsibility away from anyone else.

If I were to write a similar guide for every *role* (which I do intend to get around to), each one would have the rule "You must survive." When it comes down to it, no one can do their job while they're eating dirt or traveling back from the hospital. Alive teammates make for more effective ones.

Just to touch on this, particularly the highlighted. I thought the guide was clear enough that tank is a role and Tank is an AT, and one does not imply the other. I agree with what you're saying, a Tank's (the AT) job is not to protect his team first and foremost. A tank's (the role) job, though, is.

Yeah.

Take Spin, Burn, and some other powers. Now go kill stuff.

Can we stop talking about Champions Online already?

There. I said it. The name is out there, let's just close the thread.

*nitpick* Did i20.5 launch today?

I still believe there is a difference in the play style between the ATs. You make a defender because you want the best buffer in the game. You make a corruptor because you want a damage dealer that has a support secondary. It's an entirely different approach to a character. Through the leveling process, the defender will have access to more support powers than the corruptor. As a result, the defender will spend more of his time using these powers and the focus of the defender's build will likely be biased to these powers. It's true at level 50 both builds could be almost identical, but that leveling process isn't something you outgrow. If you spent the first 40 levels playing as a defender, you're probably going to keep focusing on support over blast.

Indeed we are, and I apologize for what of that is my fault.

I think I see our main disconnect, though, is that you use the phrase "build for bodyguard mode."

I don't think our builds are very different, as you said you are defense oriented, and so am I. You mention taking aggro from your henchmen, which is something that typically goes with bodyguard mode. I haven't "built for bodyguard mode;" I simply use it. I am not sure whether I truly need it all the time.

In these scenarios, the goto command is invaluable. Remember that supremacy is a very large radius, and you can be in bodyguard mode and still keep your henchmen out of AoE range. If you're good, you can keep your henchmen and you in the same triage beacon too.

Then we certainly are on even ground. Forgive me for being skeptical.

I may find that I don't need BG mode as much as I feel I do right now. As it stands, I do occasionally focus fire, but perhaps I need to try this more.

Yes, because all everyone wants is to get laid. I'm sure your mom is proud of you for pulling the internet cool guy card.

As I said before, it's not about being special. I don't have any 'iconic' or 'good' names for my characters. But the names I do have are my names. That's what is important to me, that my identity I've chosen in game is mine.

We call comic incontinence like this "milking an idea for all the revenue we can get." These things keep children entertained and parents buying. I don't see how you could expect your argument to carry any weight unless you fit into the first category.

Using kinetics as an example is a very poor comparison point, since the damage cap is the damage cap, and that's mostly what kinetics is known for. The other thing kinetics is known for is full endurance bars. Whether you're a corruptor or a defender, there's very little difference between "always full endurance" and "always full endurance."

The one noticeable difference will be that a defender can neuter an AV's damage potential, easily stacking up to the cap of -damage. It's a lot harder for a corruptor to accomplish that.

When it comes to most of the other buffing and debuffing sets, and particularly debuffing blasts, when your goal is the support effects, there's never a better choice than a defender.

Keep in mind leadership values for defenders are higher too.

It's really just a difference in play style. The corruptor is a support secondary. He's there to do damage, and he'll buff when he wants to. Where it is common for a kin defender to keep his team SB'd, I am surprised if I see a kin corruptor who does the same.

Again, in the real world your name is only part of your identity. To the superhero, his name is his identity. You don't get newspaper articles about "Sparky Flame Man (the one with a targeting monocle, boost range, and doesn't have leadership powers, and his address is @rsclark in Steel Canyon) saves kitten!"

Think of it less literally. If someone acts in your name (i.e. identity theft) and purchases a large quantity of things, your credit rating is at risk.

Depends, was that guy Eric Clapton or John Petrucci? Then yes.

Otherwise, hell no.

I want to thank you guys for supporting my idea, even if I'm a bit late to say it. I really hope this set gets added as well, as I could really see myself enjoying it. I've PM'd Black Scorpion about it, as well as Castle just before he left. I hadn't heard back from either, but if I ever do, I'll be sure to let you guys know.

And what are your difficulty settings?

I'm not claiming one way is better than the other because I cannot define "better" for all cases. My claim is that "Leveraging bodyguard mode will always lead to better personal survival, whether you build defense or resistance." Personal experience means very little in an argument like this. Numerically, in ways we can prove, a softcapped MM in bodyguard mode can survive a lot more damage than one that is not in bodyguard mode.

Again, what are your difficulty settings? How well do you handle Archvillains? Giant Monsters?

I could play an ice/empathy troller on SOs that "never dies," but if his difficulty was never set higher than +0/x1, is that really a testament to his survivability?

This. Leveraging bodyguard mode will always lead to better personal survival, whether you build defense or resistance. In fact, since bodyguard mode acts as resistance, it is even more effective to layer the defense than it is to have resistance. My bots/traps doesn't actually have resistance armor. I built for S/L/Ranged softcap and tons of +HP and some +recharge. I still taunt and lay my tripmines on the toes of x8 mobs, AVs and GMs I solo.

I do have a command set up that tells my Assbot and Protectors who to target. I don't use it often, but since they are the majority of my damage, it is a great way to focus fire without removing all of my bodyguard mode.

Yeah, out here your name is only part of your identity. In a superhero game, your name is your identity.

If I am Super Sparky Flame Man, I don't want some other Super Sparky Flame Man getting the credit for the people I've saved. If he's a jerk and doesn't actually save people, I don't want to be blamed for it.

Considering how popular she is, would you really want the name Fusionette if you could have it? Unless you are trying to play as the CoH Fusionette, no you don't want to deal with her reputation.

It's not that I need to be a unique snowflake. I don't want anyone else to run around with my name. In the real world, we call this identity theft.

Actually, it wouldn't make your Praetorian characters any easier. You can still only have one MarvelZombie@MarvelZombie. I could run around as a praetorian version of MarvelZombie@Dechs Kaison, but you could not make a second MarvelZombie, as the second one would not be a unique name.

I just picked the name Cyclops as an obvious iconic name. I'm fair certain, though, I did see that Cyclops was allowable on that game, and since they allowed you to see characters offline, I paged through about a hundred of them.

No. Absolutely not. I am the only Dechs Kaison, the only Soulburn Sands and the only Thompson Ninja out there. No one probably wants my names, and that's fine with me. But what about these "good" names people keep rambling on about?

How good is a name like Cyclops when you team with another Cyclops every other day?

I fully support the idea of releasing names of characters who are no longer in use on inactive accounts. I see absolutely no reason to allow multiple people to have the same name.

I do something similar with my Claws/Dark Brute. I run tip missions on +0/x8, which gives me all the drops plus an alignment merit every other day. You can only do five tips per day, though. Once I've done that I generally find a TF to do and spend the merits on more alignment merits, but if you wanted to continue farming, radio/paper missions are a great way to pass the time.

I mention it so readily because of my own Claws/Dark brute. Remember that thread you helped me out so much with? (Thanks again, by the way) He turned out to be a ridiculously fun build. I did go with body mastery, though, so the only redraw I have is from Dark Regeneration and the occasional Hasten.