Jophiel

A commission I had done by the talented Nojitsu in which the Polish Princess is slightly reimagined in a different costume I liked how the theme of the costume stayed the same, just the amount of fabric was significantly altered.

Nojitsu has done a few CoH pieces now despite not being a player and has a commission special going so you might want to check her out.

Just as a follow up, I spec'd out of Atomic Blast and Neutron Bomb. Like I said, NB just never moved me with its long activation time and moderate (at best) damage. Except for killing monkeys in Crey's -- it was good for that

Replaced them with EM Pulse and Leadership: Assault. Played with my enhancements, noticed I could start conserving slots as my old 30/35 IOs became 40/45s and spent too much influence on inventions and salvage. Well, "too much" for my own pocketbook. I'm sure the millions I dropped was small change to many of you.

Went to bed before I could EMP anyone but I'm feeling good about what I've done and thank you all for your input. Not that you should stop giving input, of course.

Well, I know what I'm replacing Atomic Blast with

That's helpful all ready. I was under the assumption that EMP was largely a "robot version" of Atomic Blast.

As long as I'm soliciting advice, I'm thinking about respecing and changing some stuff around. I'm at work and don't have a Mids thingie but here's a quick and dirty list and a few of my thoughts.

Rad Emission: Radiant Aura, Rad. Infection, Acc. Metabolism, Enervating Field, Mutation, Lingering Radiation, Choking Cloud
Rad Blast: Neutrino Bolt, X-Ray Beam, Irradiate, Aim, Cosmic Burst, Neutron Bomb, Atomic Blast
Flight: Hover, Flight
Speed: Hasten
Fitness: Swift, Health, Stamina
Psychic Mastery: Dominate

I didn't take...
Fallout: I tend to solo and, when grouped, try not to have anyone die
EM Pulse: Seemed limited in scope. Went with Atomic Blast
Electron Haze: Not sure. Limited scope maybe? I think I went with Proton Volley when the choice came up.
Proton Volley: Spec'd out of it. Didn't use it much post lvl 30ish with Cosmic Burst as my heavy hitter. Long activation time as a snipe.

I'm not thrilled with...
Aim: I tend not to use it, honestly. When I do use it, I don't see a significant difference except very situationally (AVs, GMs, etc)
Atomic Blast: Very situational. In groups, the damage doesn't seem worth losing all my endurance, debuff toggles, ability to heal the group, etc.
Neutron Bomb: Even with three DMG IOs, it's not very impressive except for looks. Long activation time.

My own solo playstyle is probably more "hands on" than most defenders (although maybe everyone plays Rads that way). I debuff a target, use Choking Cloud/Cosmic Burst/Dominate to help with the adds and get into melee range to use Sands of Mu plus my blast powers. Sands of Mu is pretty effective when they're debuffed and rivals Cosmic Blast for damage. With Hasten/AM I can keep up a stream of respectable (to me) damage and don't typically get into a lot of trouble aside from stunners who knock my toggles down and leave me staggering and beaten

I'm looking at you, Malta...

Anyway, any thoughts? Am I underestimating some great powers or anything? My powers are slotted in probably the obvious ways -- Dmg/Acc in blasts, Recharge/End. Mod in AM, End Red/Debuffs in the debuffs, etc. I don't have details for those off the top of my head but am keeping this general anyway.

Heh... I think I may not have the Lockdown (End/Rechg) in there. I only have the three in the set, I think. Which explains why I was wracking my brain to figure out my 4th Lockdown slot

Thanks for the advice!

I had a feeling it was the 2 Mag thingie. A little annoying to have my Rad/Rad firing off Telsa Cages but, hey, at least I know it's working, huh?

Adeon_Hawkwood implies that it's not "all that" aside from beefing up the set bonuses. Is there a better Hold set (or single IO) I should keep my eye on? I've only come to really appreciate Choking Cloud within the last ten levels or so. Surprised I didn't "discover" it sooner for how useful it is, especially when soloing.

I'm playing a Rad/Rad defender (currently lvl 43) and I've noticed "held" opponents near me are displaying an electric cage graphic complete with sound effect. I think this is happening to opponents affected by my Choking Cloud but can't be sure. My CC is slotted with two End Red. IOs, one Enhance Hold IO and four Lockdown IO's (+2 Mag, Hold, Hold/End & End/Rechg I think).

I have no "electric" powers. Took Dominate from the Lvl 41 Pool Powers.

I think it started up after slotting the Mag +2 enhancement but I was fighting Malta at the time and didn't know at first if it was them or me. Then I noticed it against Crey while hunting Paragon Protectors last night and thought "Now that ain't right."

This a known thing or is it just me? Not game breaking at all, although I little annoying and perplexing.

Well, I definately did CoVCE last time since I got it for $9.95 and it came in the big box with seven HeroClix doo-dads and the art book, etc. The Big Lots offering is the old standard CoV box.

As an aside, Newegg has the Good v. Evil edition for $9.99 with free shipping in case anyone ever wanted the extra costume bits, etc. Same price as the NCSoft store for the "Goodies Only" pack but with a free month of game play (provided you haven't registered a GvE code yet)

Really? Maybe I'll give it a shot. Worst case, I'm out $6 and offering a free month of CoX to a friend.

I know you can purchase and enter codes from the various expansions to gain the goodies and free months (even including the Mac edition code on the PC) but does anyone know if the CoV "basic" edition is stackable with the CoV Collector's Edition?

Probably not but, hey, CoV for $6 at Big Lots. Thought I'd ask

Ha, they look like trading cards. Awesome!

Male, 36. Been playing on and off since shortly after launch but only hit my 18 month vet badge a month or so ago.

Currently, I'm at about 50/50 for male/female characters. If you went and looked at deleted characters, it'd probably tilt slightly more female.

I usually start with a concept and that concept usually lends itself immediately to being male or female. "Hey, I should make a nun!" "Hey, I should make a Spanish conquistador!" "Hey, I should make an axe wielding young woman in bloodstained pajamas!" "Hey, I should make a giant tanker and name him after a dinosaur!" and so forth. I think my current 50/50 mix is more random chance than anything else; I can "relate" to both my male and female characters equally well provided I like the concept.

I think that this thread won't be complete until we see some Wassy pin-up art of The Lounge Crooner.

Beyond thinking that your current stuff is great, I think that even if it's a departure from your older styles, it's always worth it to expand and try new things. Perhaps some of the things you learn through your current works will be carried over the next time you want to do a more manga style work. Learning to become proficient in a variety of styles can't ever be a bad thing.

Looks great! I like the rich colors and motion in the cape (well, I like all of it but try to pick things out).

Thanks again!