Grey Pilgrim

I am rather frustrated that the first new Secondary Blasters get in ages is Dark. Martial Arts after getting Maelstrom as an NPC seemed a no-brainer, but I'm guessing it required more work than they could give it currently. I'm sure some will love having dark Blasters, but I've never liked shooting skulls at things. If it was just the clouds of dark that I could color, it might be fun.

Would have liked to see EA brought to Tanks, rather than SR. I'll probably roll and EA Scrapper, since I like them more than Brutes. I don't know what to pair with it: part of me was thinking Broadsword or Axe (the Vanguard version), but I hate redraw, and EA has a couple of powers that will cause it after the changes. I may make a build that only needs Energy Drain once in a blue moon, but I don't know. I'd go Kin Melee, but I already have a Kin Scrapper that I just finished leveling, and I want to run him through the Incarnate stuff.

I responded to your post in my guide as well, but if you need cash, I would recommend setting up a build in Mid's that you want to shoot for, and you should be able to get a fair amount of inf from selling the Hami-Os you don't use on the market (the ones that help your end and resistance go for a lot on their own... I sold one for 300-400 mill the other week when it dropped on a Hami raid). Most don't go for that much, but they will help.

Do you stealth all that much? If my team needs to get to the end of a mission, I usually just tanker stealth to the end (leap through without my aura going). Also, you can still be seen by anyone with just that IO, you're just cutting down on the range they can see you at: you need to stack it with another forum of stealth to not be seen by most mobs. Even then... I'd say a Tank should be seen. Unless you really need that IO on this guy or another character, stealth IOs sell pretty well also.

And like New Dawn said, use your slots wisely. Combat Jumping is good with its default slot. You can save up merits to get a LoTG +recharge in there (only 200, which is doable after a few task forces, especially if you run the WST and get the extra merits). Or just a defense enhancement. The few times I have had more than one slot in there, it was for a bonus of some sort... maybe to have a Kismet +accuracy as well.

At any rate, I'd highly recommend going for defense to add on to your build. It makes you a lot more survivable, and you can do pretty good damage with my defense build

I tried to note the debate over when and how to use Blazing Aura in my guide. I quite agree that it is useful throughout your career, so picking it up as soon as possible is the way to go. However, endurance usage is always something to worry about, especially before SO levels. I ran a KM/Dark Scrapper through after the Fitness changes, and I had a hard time keeping his damage aura going when solo: until after the SO levels. And I was slotting for end reduction as best I could, around other things. Scrappers generally have better damage to endurance consumption, so Tankers are going to notice that even more. Damage auras are nice, but you want to keep up your toggles and use your other attacks even more.

When to take Rise of the Phoenix is a personal preference thing, too. I prefer to get everything lined up that will keep me alive before grabbing something that will revive me. So I'd take all my defensive toggles before RotP for sure. I could see possibly taking it before Fiery Embrace or Temperature Protection, but there are benefits to those that can keep you moving as well.

Builds are individual as well. Whatever you want to use, be sure that it adds up to you having a solid build that will meet your needs. Hami-Os are a nice way to get a lot out of each slot, so they have that going for them. However, you would not want to use them so exclusively that you are cheated of the many bonuses IO sets can give. I'll try to take a look at your build when I get the chance (no time right now, alas), but use Hami-Os around IO sets to stretch your slots and bonuses to the utmost.

Defense is a good thing to aim for with Fiery Aura, the type you go for is up to you, but you would want to get to at least 20% for regular content: that seems to be the line where I notice a big difference. The higher you go, the better. It is possible to get to 45%, but you usually have to sacrifice too much with Fiery Aura, so getting somewhere between 20-45% is a good spot. S/L is nice, of course, but as you can see with my Defensive build, I like having defense to more types of damage, especially Psionic (it's prevalent in the 40+ game).

No problem. I want to make sure everyone can find and form teams, and channels are a big part of that.

Keyes seems to be like Lambda, which requires you to be more on your toes and to work in a smaller group than the entire Trial group. That periodic pulse is rather rough... I got nervous whenever I needed to use Healing Flames between pulses. This was alleviated when people were using their area heals well, but I still find that frustrating... for all that these trials require teamwork, people seem bent on doing their own thing or racing from one room to the next in Lambda, etc. I guess it's nice to have the challenge.

I think I'm more concerned that it seems to take longer than a BAF or Lambda and doesn't reward as well, at least as far as Astrals go. Anyone been timing these much? Lambda is always faster for me than a BAF, and Keyes was at least as long as the BAF I was on beforehand tonight. It really gets that way when you include wait time as well... forming up for some trials (if you're there early on) can make forming for a TF seem like nothing.

Yeah, the chat channel thing would be nice for a new player to reference (it's why I made that Welcome to Victory Thread). I honestly don't know what the solution is, other than to tell players that seem to be new about them. Channels are player run, so I'm guessing some kind of notice about them might not be wanted from the devs.

But I dunno... are there any help messages on the loading screens that mention channels? I can't recall. Most servers have a welcome thread that mentions the main channels, so it would be good if they did.

And I'm fine with there being three main channels (I posted in all four with VB2009). VB being consolidated makes sense, but the three are different enough that it's worth keeping that way. Different people, different purposes, etc. It's all good.

*added*

Ele, when did Werner try to look for trials? The first few weeks of them, there were three trials at a time constantly in the peak hours, so that seems weird.

The great thing about our costume options combined with our powersets is that you can easily make a tech looking hero whose powers are derived from technology. Could be Invulnerability, Willpower, even Fiery Aura.

I think it probably works out better than having such a specific powerset.

If you have endurance issues, go for Cardiac, but I would think you should be able to moderate those well enough that you could go for Spiritual (which would help a lot with all the long recharge powers PBs get, as well as getting Conserve Power up faster). I went Spiritual on my PB and it's pretty nice, allowing for build up and other attacks to be increased, as well as my heals. If you're not hurting for recharge or endurance, I could see going for more damage, perhaps. I'd still say go spiritual unless you have enough global recharge that Hasten is perma or close to it.

Judgement, go for what is fun, though you could easily color Void to look like PB powers (and with no end drain to use it!). I'm probably going to do that for my Peacebringer (going to start running him in trials soon, after I get my Controller to all T3 levels).

Interface, Diamagnetic's -to hit is awesome if you want more survivability. If you want more damage, I'd go with Reactive. I'm not sure the others will help much for a PB, since you already do plenty of -defense already, and won't have any slows to stack (and I'd say I prefer -to hit for more survivability than to have added slows).

Destiny, well, Clarion seems a clear bet, especially for you. You don't have any mez protection (unless your build has Acrobatics running, but that will only cover one hold against you), so that will help you keep blasting away. I'm going for Clarion on my Peacebringer. I could see going for Ageless, but if you have any endurance or recharge issues, I'd say it's better to cover those with your Alpha slot and grab Clarion. You have two heals in human form, so hopefully you don't need Rebirth, either.

Lore... I'd say you could go for theme there, more than anything. If you want damage, Warworks and Cimerorans seem to do a lot, but none of them are too far off, from what I recall being posted. If you'd rather more survivability, going for one of the sets with good buffs or debuffs can help. Seers support casts a weakened version of Fortitude on you (think about 5ish defense to all, along with some to hit and damage), and storm elementals run around with a hurricane version that doesn't send foes flying too much, but debuffs their range and to hit. I'm going with Polar Lights for thematics on my PB, but I'm not sure what their support does. I might just go for a stronger boss with him.

The use of comic book panels like this is stupendous, and should be used in place of cut scenes (or maybe cutscenes within comic-style panels). I only wish this had been thought of sooner: it is a brilliant idea! Now run with it (and revamp old content with it rather than letting them languish)!

Everyone read the Intrepid Informer info yet? I wasn't super keen on the idea of Galaxy City being trashed, since I started a lot of heroes there (I like Atlas, but it was a good change of pace back in the day when we only had that or Galaxy), but this sounds really cool.

Heck, I wish they had run with this idea for cutscenes since CoH started: comic panels would be awesome to use for those: I might actually not want to skip them even after the 30th time seeing one!

Even if you're going with just straight SOs, you need to have a build with any character. Throwing stuff at your character is never going to be good, especially if you start increasing your settings. That goes even more for Kheldians, who have fairly tight build needs. You don't have to spend hours on this, but you do want to think through what powers and slots you are taking.

I rather hate irresistible damage... it tells me that player powers were not balanced well enough to allow the devs room to make encounters challenging enough. I'm somewhat okay with it on Hami, since it can be focused (rather than hitting the whole team), but I still dislike it there, since it makes CoX into a game where healers are suddenly needed, when that isn't usually the case.

I don't know that it's particularly necessary, either... I know my lone characters can have a rough time on the trials: it's much better to work in groups on them.