Heraclea

I'd be William Shakespeare, who in game is a rad/archery defender. I'd get to go back and revise the plays to include more pokemon and catgirls.

I think that getting a WP tanker above around 32% defense versus smashing and lethal will be pretty good, so long as you aren't neglecting your other powers (resistance and regeneration) to get there.

Blasters. I have one blaster (Arch/Dev) that I got to level 50, but I have tended to avoid them; most others I've tried were too fragile and had too bad endurance problems to get out of the teen levels. Now I'm working on an Electric/Mind blaster, which I plan to build for debuff and team utility.

Controllers. Mostly because of issues with the secondaries; I have a very old Ill/Emp that I made ages ago, but learned that I don't like playing /Emp on teams. I tried a Fire/Kin just to see what all the shouting was about: but if I dislike /Emp, I positively loathe /Kin. The fact that I consider Speed Boost a curse didn't help. Now I'm trying once more, with a winter themed Ice/Cold that was my holiday project.

Controllers, it seems, are barely playable before level 38 when they get their last secondary power. And I've never tried one that didn't have massive recharge issues. Powers that take more than two minutes to recharge may as well not exist as far as I'm concerned. They get moved off the main task bar and forgotten. I hope this one goes a bit better.

Kheldians. I have a warshade now. He's level 10. He's stayed that level for a while now, because he was the designated candy cane redeemer. Now I might try to level him. Or I may end up deleting him the same way I've ended up deleting all the Kheldians I've tried in the past. Making new costumes is one of the chief anticipated things about levelling up. Character types that take away the costume you made tend to be neglected.

I've been around for a while, and got the 60 month veteran badge a few weeks ago. Sometimes, other games capture my interest for a while. I played Age of Conan for a while (great first 20 levels, went swiftly downhill after that while I played). I've been to World of Warcraft. I tried Lord of the Rings Online for a while. I've played a variety of single player games.

This is the game that's home, the one I've always come back to. I came close to /ragequit after issues 5 and 6, like I suspect a lot of people did, and spent a lot of time in other games until issue 9 at least. That said ....

The endgame content here is getting to make another character with a different power set and playing that. The number of characters you can have here is limited only by the number of servers. There is enough variation among the several ATs and among powersets within ATs (Illusion Control vs Ice Control, anyone?) to keep me entertained, at least.

When this game added loot, it did it right. Loot is handed out privately and is infinitely transferrable; if you have a respec you can unslot your IOs, and in the worst case scenario you can always buy a respec. This game has loot without much loot drama and raid politics, and the loot does not become a bone of contention that starts quarrels in circles of friends who play together. That misfeature is what has tended to drive me away from other MMOs. I suspect I will subscribe as long as this game avoids that pitfall.

More content is a good thing, but I don't think it needs to focus on high level raids. And if something were added that brought loot drama and its resulting tensions here, I probably would leave.

More curious to figure out if there was ever any grounds for arriving at this belief.

This might have been the doing of a Vahzilok boss; the Mire Eidolon has Tenebrous Tentacles.

I'd point out that taunt auras only really become important on large teams full of certain squishies - blasters and defenders mostly. If the OP plays regularly with 2 or 3 friends, WP is ideal. It has no need of specific buffs, and on smaller spawn sizes taunt auras become much less of a priority.

For big teams and late game task forces, Invulnerability does outshine Willpower.

Shields, Willpower, and Invulnerability are all reasonably good primaries, relatively friendly to new players.

Willpower is probably the most straightforward and easiest to level, but it does make managing aggro of large spawns harder than some others.

Invulnerability is also fairly straightforward, but you are going to want to postpone some of the passive defensive powers until later in the build.

Shields is also quite straightforward, high concept, and fun. Like most defense based sets, it will take a while for it to become really tough.

For secondaries, I'm fond of Dark Melee, Electric Melee, Mace, Axe, and Super Strength. Some favorite combos:

Shield/Electric
Inv/SS
Inv/Dark Melee
Ice/Mace
Fire/Axe
WP/Fire
WP/Electric

One with the Shield adds substantial resistance (base 30%) on top of an extra 20% defense. Now, under most circumstances 45% defense is enough because 45% is all you can ever have. When you are being hit by debuffs that reduce your defense (Romans and Praetorian robots do this a lot) you have a bit of a buffer to those effects. Defense above the 45% limit gives you a bit of a cushion against this. One with the Shield is useful chiefly in these situations as well.

You are right about Phalanx Fighting.

That build looks a lot better. I'm still curious --- is this a PvP build? You still have Taunt slotted for accuracy rather than taunt duration, range, or recharge. You have Focused Accuracy. And you have Medicine pool, not slotted for interrupt.

I think you'd get more mileage out of Conserve Power and Physical Perfection, myself, and I'd drop the Medicine pool completely. Once you get soft capped, you won't need it; you will have very little need for One with the Shield, for that matter.

Is this meant for PvP? I ask that because you have Taunt slotted for accuracy and took Focused Accuracy, when the accuracy in your actual attacks seems more than adequate for PvE. If it's a PvP build, I don't know what I am talking about, and you can ignore me.

I made some minor changes to your build that will make you a whole lot tougher while keeping most of its features intact. I reslotted Taunt, moved some slots around, and added some sets. Some will not be cheap - but you could pay for every change made by losing one of the LotG recharges, and this gets rid of one of them.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Tanker
Primary Power Set: Shield Defense
Secondary Power Set: War Mace
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Medicine
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Deflection -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(3), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(7), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:50(13), Aegis-ResDam:50(36), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(40)
Level 1: Bash -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(5), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(17), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(37), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(46)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- EndRdx-I:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(3), LkGmblr-Def:50(7), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(13)
Level 4: True Grit -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(5), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(9), RctvArm-ResDam:40(15), Heal-I:50(36), Heal-I:50(45)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel:30(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(11)
Level 8: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 10: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt:50(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg:50(11), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:50(45), Mocking-Rchg:50(45)
Level 12: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(15)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(17)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(19), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(19), Numna-Heal:50(40), Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(46)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(21), P'Shift-EndMod:50(21), P'Shift-End%:50(42)
Level 22: Build Up -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(23), RechRdx-I:50(23)
Level 24: Phalanx Fighting -- DefBuff-I:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(25), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(25)
Level 26: Shield Charge -- Acc-I:50(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(27), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:50(27), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(31), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(33), Oblit-Dmg:50(37)
Level 28: Clobber -- C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(29), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(29), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(33), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(43)
Level 30: Whirling Mace -- Acc-I:50(A), Oblit-Dmg:50(31), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(31), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:50(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(43)
Level 32: One with the Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(34), RctvArm-ResDam:40(34), Heal-I:50(34), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(46)
Level 35: Stimulant -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 38: Crowd Control -- Acc-I:50(A), Oblit-Dmg:50(39), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(39), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:50(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(43)
Level 41: Aid Self -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(42), Heal-I:50(42)
Level 44: Conserve Power -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 47: Laser Beam Eyes -- Decim-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:40(48), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:40(48), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(48), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(50)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- Heal-I:50(A), RgnTis-Regen+:30(50), P'Shift-End%:50(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet

Now that I have an extensive roster of tankers (one of every primary except for Electric Armor at 45+), and some experience at building brutes for a tanking role, I've been focusing on building scrappers that can tank. My two best candidates are Spines/WP and Electric/Shield. Both of them do an adequate job at taking alpha strikes and holding aggro; the Spines scrapper doesn't need to rely on the Willpower taunt aura for holding aggro, of course.

No scrapper ought to be able to take aggro from any actual tanker, but these two can and do fairly often, and had to be built with that in mind.

On the other hand, were there an alternative way to earn them, the price might fall, at least a little.

The other thing is that by my understanding, PvP drops are hostage to the kill credit mechanic. In other contexts, this means nothing. In PvE, I know my rad defender is doing something that helps even if he never lands a killing blow on the AV. I don't care about whose name shows up in the combat log. In PvP, that makes all the difference. DoT powers and scattershot masterminds get every advantage, even over single target damage specialists.

Also, for your level 40 hero costume slot mission, which requires Nemesis, Agent Six's mission (Natural store) will pit you against them. Since the Vanguard Quartermaster and the Midnighter Store were put in game, I seldom bother running the origin store missions.

Before the zone level restriction was lifted, I always found the tailor in IP easier to get to on a lowbie than the one in Steel. The walk from the KR - IP exit is shorter than the run through Steel Canyon, and it's a bit easier to avoid spawns even if you enter Steel from where the base teleporter drops you, just east of the green train.

I don't like PvP, and don't really want to, but I could be persuaded to do it if it were made worth my time.

PvP has always been broken in every game I've ever tried for the characters I like best to play. I think this is fundamental game design. I gravitate towards melee characters built for high survivability. I've never seen an MMO that really solved the Indiana Jones / sword to a gunfight problem. Ranged is favored in PvP, because you can attack from a much wider range of positions. Most games neutralize any advantages you get from armor or hit points. This game does too, to some extent. Most games allow melees to be crowd controlled and kited endlessly as well. This game does too, and it got worse with the PvP changes.

That said, I participated in several forms of PvP during my stint in World of Warcraft. I ran both battlegrounds and arenas. I went in expecting to lose, and usually did lose. On the other hand, even by losing you still earned game currencies that were useful to purchase PvP rewards. You earned more by winning, of course, but I was Alliance and on my server Alliance seldom won. I did not spec for PvP and was the wrong build to play the Arena to win, but so long as I was winning points and saving for rewards I did not care.

One of the last straws in WoW for me was when they decided that PvP rewards could not be bought unless you had and maintained a certain level of arena reputation. That meant that grinding in PvP was pointless; you had to win to buy the gear. Good bye.

In this game, you have to get actual kills to get the recipe drops, and my builds don't do that. If you earned some kind of currency that bought them just for showing up, like you did in WoW, I might bother. I won't really enjoy it, but if it's made worth my time I can be there.

Can it be made permanent with SOs like Practised Brawler can? Click mez protection that can't be would only be useful if it could be also activated when mezzed, and I don't remember seeing that here. Otherwise, it's a power selection that duplicates the function of an inspiration, only not as well.