Grey Pilgrim

I think most of the powers for KM are wants, other than Repulsing Torrent. Doesn't do good damage, and its mitigation is iffy, since it does KB in a cone. I'm going to pick it up for my KM Scrapper in the 40s, but only use it as a mitigation tool: and even then, I'm going to debate taking Energy Torrent from the APP instead, especially if it really only does KD, and not KB. Confront is up to you and your AT, of course.

Focused Burst isn't used by me TOO often, but I like having a ranged attack on my melee characters, as there are runners or times where it's going to be nice to have (should be nice in the Battle Maiden fight, for instance). Concentrated Strike is just awesome... hits hard, and it makes me chortle with glee (okay, almost, I'm of Swedish descent and not THAT expressive) whenever it recharges Power Siphon.

Yeah, I'm a big exemper (I like being able to play anything on anyone), so I tend to slot IOs in the level 30-32 range to have those powers slotted well, but also have the bonuses for as much content as possible. I haven't found myself wishing for the bonuses in lower level content (under 25 missions and TFs/SFs), to be honest.

As for making money, now is a good time to start a new character. Started up a Dominator in Praetoria, and he already has several million just from candy cane drops. Easy to get some from gifts as you run to and from missions, there.

Anyway, I'll say it again for Dual Pistols like I did at the start of the thread. I've been playing my Dual Pistols Blaster about 5-10 levels behind my Energy/Energy Blaster, and that Energy Blaster has been my favorite and easiest to play Blaster so far (quite safe to play, comparably, and does good damage). I've found my Dual Pistols Blaster to be roughly equivalent, or a little behind, since he doesn't always have KB mitigation. I wish Executioner's Strike had a bit more damage to make up for its slightlyanimation, and that cold and toxic ammo did a bit more for Blasters, but I'm otherwise quite happy with the set. Gets the job done, and I have to say that Hail of Bullets is awesome... love being able to drop an entire mob about every 50-60 seconds (think that's where the Blaster's current range gets him).

Ten Ton Hammer interviewed Positron, and while the article is fairly interesting, I thought the statistics throughout it are even more so. 200k characters have been made since GR launched, 70% of them being Praetorian... and there is about an even split between being Loyalist and Resistance. Sounds like the balance there is better than that between heroes and villains, heh.

Masterminds, Brutes, Dominators, Blasters, and Scrappers have been the top Praetorian archetypes, while Masterminds, Brutes, and Stalkers have sideswitched the most from villains, and Scrappers, Blasters, and Controllers have switched the most from heroes.

Can't say those statistics are quite what I expected for some things. MMs make some sense, as they're so different from anything else in game. Stalkers are kind of a surprise, since they're supposedly the most "sucky" AT at this point, and I doubt the PvP crowd are wanting them too much, or even affecting things that much there. Kind of nice to see, though. Love the Blaster stats, though... I've been debating some people that think Blasters need a buff lately.

What do you all think? What you were expecting? Make you think something else?

Yeesh, why wait until level 47 to get the benefit of IOs? I slot in the 30s and benefit from them much earlier on. The benefits to the power are usually not that dramatically different, and the damage for most damage sets will certainly get you to the ED cap.

Sure, we now have more things to do at 50, but I like having that benefit for longer in my character's career.

It has some obvious powers that could use tweaking, but Devices plays a lot differently from other Blaster secondaries, and I like it for that. Cal Trops and Trip Mines are good area denial powers, Smoke and Web Grenade can be useful mitigation, and Cloaking Device and Targeting Drone are quite useful, in my mind.

It can be outperformed, but my Archery/Devices Blaster is one of the few characters that I'm going to run through the incarnate stuff. It's different and fun.

Just pair whatever you want. I like the stacking stun ability with AR/EM, but you can live without it, or Boost Range. I'd say Elec or EM is nice for AR because they can supplement your ST damage, since you already have great AOE capability.

I'm meh on the animal stuff, but the steampunk might be interesting, depending on what they do with it. I only hope that we get some costumes with the next issues that are free as well Otherwise... you guessed it. Pilgrim get mad! Smash!

Probably would have been fun as a bunch of short animations, or maybe a movie. Probably wouldn't have worked right as a series (probably part of the problem with X-Men Evolution), but it could have been a lot of fun. Would have liked seeing them go somewhere with this.

Hmmmm, try to figure out my favorite of all the Jackie Chan movies I've seen. Think I'll go for Rumble in the Bronx. That was my first Chan movie, and I think the action, story, and goofiness are the best in that one.

There's more to The Matrix than action, of course, but that's a great part of it. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero probably go in this category as well. Hero is gorgeous as well as having good action.

I'm playing wait and see with this one. That's what I did with the LoTR movies, and that worked out for the most part, so hopefully it'll happen again, heh.

Strange... I've heard people that like the music in CoH, and even wanted to know where they could listen to it. I used to have a link to it. It's not all great, but you can pry the Atlas Park theme music from my cold, dead hands. That's quite epic and thematic at the same time. Even some of the more meh stuff I really associate with the neighborhood now, which is a good thing for me.

Praetoria... didn't they actually bring people in to do the music for that? You can buy the soundtrack, after all, and that works pretty well.

I doubt I'd want any different approach to their music than they have now, as I'd rather it set the mood for a zone or mission, and leave it there. Boss fight music in things like Final Fantasy usually got pretty repetitive, and I've always thought the sound of our powers going off was epic enough. *shrugs* To each their own. I'm sure there will be plenty that agree or disagree with me.

Hmmmm, think I forgot to adjust that bit about Consume... there were so many little details I revised, so I guess I'm not surprised. I think I'd still recommend it, though, as your end use as a Tank still isn't going to be great until SO levels. Not sure how I missed this one, since I revised Consume's discussion for the new changes. Thanks, though. No matter how much you work, there are always bits you miss in writing, I have found.

Kind of the same thinking about Blazing Aura, to be honest. I'm holding off on Hot Feet for my Dominator until he can get some better end use, and that really isn't until SO levels, either.

*added*

Wait, I did discuss the pros and cons of when to take Blazing Aura, even with inherent Fitness! Strato made me all nervous that I hadn't! Grrr.

I adjusted the Consume discussion to note my thinking about endurance use before SO levels. Fire Tanks really do want to keep Fire and Plasma Shield running if they can, and that's still harder to do before SO levels, I would contend (though not nearly so hard as before Inherent Fitness, to be sure.

Try other Tanker combinations (can make things quite different)? Try other ATs? Work all those tanks through the incarnate content? I like Tanks and prefer doing their job on the team, but I have plenty of Blasters, some Scrappers, a Brute, two Controllers, and I've started a Fire/Fire Dominator recently. Variety and altitis is my spice of life, but find what floats your boat.

Hmmmm, I could even see Elijah Wood as working on the story some, as that is what Bilbo had him do. Works for me, and would actually help set a different tone to The Hobbit, which makes sense... it is more lighthearted, if set in the same world.

Orlando Bloom would have to be a cameo in the background or something while the dwarves are captured... anything else would be odd and trip things up, I would think.

Still kind of waiting and seeing about the two part thing. Seems pointless and not so good, but we'll see how it goes.

I'm going to preface what I say by stating that I don't really enjoy the Three Stooges. I've seen a couple of their movies, and just didn't find them funny or enjoyable (I have liked some Marx Bros., though).

That said, this part baffles me. "After various misadventures, the trio splits up and the third act starts with them alone — and finding that all the slapping, eye-gouging, and head-bonking isn't a useful way of dealing with the outside world."

Why would you want to see a Three Stooges movie that isn't the Three Stooges? They live in a world where you can do stuff like that (their movies have never, ever been realistic). I'm not going to go to the Three Stooges for life lessons or how to deal with the outside world: I'm going to go there because I want to hear some nyuk nyuks and guys hitting each other and doing some physical comedy. Hollywood is always making iffy remakes, but this one is particularly asinine.

The one is just a basic IO/SO build, so I didn't bother updating it. I suppose I should for the inherent Fitness stuff, though. I'll look it over quick and update it.

Okay, thanks. I did look in CoD, but it did have base accuracy in there, as does Mid's. It's a pretty nice power, actually. Sure, it's not a huge -to hit, but it recharges fast and isn't too heavy on the endurance use. Helped me out while I was duking it out with Powers Division the other day.

GR, I18, and I19 made a lot of changes to how tanks play, and especially Fire/Fire Tanks. At long last, I found the time to update my guide to account for all of them. Bruising! Fiery Embrace! Burn burning once again! What the heck to do with your Alpha Slot ability! Check it and have your Fire/Fire questions answered.

Updated my Fire/Fire guide for I19 and all the changes that happened with Going Rogue and I19 for Tanks and Fiery Aura in particular. Not sure if you need the links again, as they should be the same as seen above. Let me know if you need me to repost them, though.

For those interested, my Wall of Fire guide has been updated to I19, to account for all the changes that came for Tanks and Fire/Fire Tanks with Going Rogue, I18, and I19. I obviously could not make Mid's builds that show the Alpha slots, but I do start the discussion of Incarnate slots and the Alpha Slot in Part IV, and I updated my builds for Inherent Fitness and the changes to Burn, Consume, Fiery Embrace, and the addition of Bruising to Scorch.

Nifty. Too bad my Tanker with a Sinbad the Sailor/Prince of Persia looking outfit is now on another server. I'll have to see if I can replicate it with someone.

The two playstyles are pretty different. My Archery Blaster is a hover Blaster (he's paired with Devices), which works well for him. However, I really like Hurdle paired with Combat Jumping on some of my Blasters. Both styles can work, but play quite differently. Either one can make KB work just fine, however. Just think about where you are pushing mobs on a team, but if you're solo, who cares? Take them out at range, or let them get close to you as you drop the mobs that were not knocked back.

KB is good mitigation, and it works very well for a Blaster. Use it and have fun. Sow chaos and damage!