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I took an EM/EA back at launch to 39, but that was ages and an old account ago.

I am really, really trying to get back into CoV, but the negativity (a STICKIED thread about how suxor /EA is? Good grief!) about them has made me wary.

In fact, I wanted to try something fun and different, so I rolled and Elec/Elec.

Then I hit the boards for build advice and was stunned. Could all of the negativity be true? It seems like nothing but negative posts about it, the most recent guide was from I7 and now I'm thinking, either I'll run this to 50 just to show them or I'm wasting my time.

Is it just that since I bought a VW bug, all I notice is VW bugs or is it that Brute's need some serious Dev attention?

Any advice for the Elect/Elect Brute noob?

Try rolling both and running them to level 6 or 8 and see how you like them.

Poke around newegg.com for a start.

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If you like Invulnerability, check out Willpower, which is another concept friendly set that occupies territory between Invuln and Regen. I made a Spines/WP scrapper a couple months ago, and that character was my fastest levelling ever.

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Mine too.

And fun fun fun every step of the way.

I hate to admit it, but I had an issue when I installed my 9600 GT.

Are you sure you are plugging the monitor into the correct output from the card?

Can you walk us through what you are doing when installing the card, plugging in the monitor, etc?

Can you clarify as to "what you want" being too pricey as far as IO's go?

Did you upgrade your power supply or is it the stock HP power supply?

HP generally pops in the smallest PSU they can, and if your PC didn't come with a video card then you should definitely check into it.

I think the worst part of the "march to 50 noobs" is that, once they get there, they'll probably look around and go, "Meh, that's it?"

If there isn't content to keep them, what will?

They won't have the knowledge or skill to properly run a khled, and I assume (never having a 50 redside) the same holds true for the spiders and widows.

Then its back to pl'ing another toon to 50, then farming them out, rinse, repeat.

I don't think MA inherently causes this, I just think that there is one very short, very wide path of least resistance to hit the highest level in this game, and one narrower, thin path that requires a much larger time investment.

It isn't surprising that so many take the short path, but what will keep them in the game after they get to the end?

Content must be king, and I hope that the Dev's begin to really work on that aspect of the game.

It took me a good 3 years before I bothered giving the "ugly" Spines/ a try, and it was because of a similar "revelation" that the OP had.

While running team missions, I was teamed with a Spines/Invul who just shredded spawns, tearing through large groups like crazy. I had run a DM/Regen to 50 and loved the single target uberness of it, but I quit using it because large spawns took forever and a day to take down.

Even hunting low level spawns for badges gave me migraines because it was bap bap bap, turn, bap bap bap, turn, rinse and repeat. Over and over, the single target would die quickly but it would take so long to do groups that it drove me nuts.

Then the Spines/Invul came into my life. I'd watch as he launched himself into spawn after spawn and just clean house.

So I rolled a Spines/WP, and it was by far the most fun I'd ever had with any of my toons.

Okay, so that out of the way, I think Spines/ is a bit underrated for single target goodness, but I agree it can't compete one on one with the heavy hitting single target primaries.

This takes you back to playstyle. Do you want to be the guy on the team that wipes out all of the minions and LT.'s, or the guy that goes right for the Boss/EB/AV while the rest of the team handles the spawn?

As for solo, can you handle wiping out the minions and LT.'s quickly but having to take more time with the Bosses/EB's/AV's? I wouldn't vouch for AV effectiveness solo, because I rarely soloed at high levels and can't recall taking one down one on one.

Anyways, its all about flavor, baby.

I haven't been able to roll another Scrapper that specializes in single target goodness since that Spines/ walked into my life. Oh and the secondary effects are kick butt too. You have Slows, -Fly (in Impale) which is a GREAT power to have, a damage aura that is great for the last sliver of health a bad guy might have, and -Recharge, which is just AMAZING for single target foes.

If you've fought enemies with lots of Slow and -Recharge powers, you know just how tough it can be watching those powers...slowly...slowly...creep towards being available.

I throw in a Chance for Slow into Quills (Pacing of the Turtle, I think) for even more fun. Its for the set bonus, plus I love keeping the skittery critters in range, like War Wolves, which seem to have had a few thousand gallons of Red Bull before each battle. It dovetails nicely with /WP and keeping bad guys huddled around me.

CC's I wanna see:

Worst costume
Worst bio
Worst name
Best clashing color scheme

I participated in only one, with my very first toon, level one, back in early '05.

I didn't win, but as I passed the person who held the contest, another toon shouted in broadcast how stupid my costume and name were.

The toon holding the contest said something to the effect of, "Oh yeah? He looks so stupid I'm giving him 99,999 INFL!"

I was flabberghasted, it was fun, but haven't been back to one since.

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You are right, child abuse is no laughing matter. Good riddance.

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I'm glad we still live in a society that believes people are innocent until proven guilty.

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I'm sad that I live in a society where wealth can buy freedom, and a lack of wealth can lead to a denial of freedom, regardless of guilt or innocence.

Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say.

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It is pretty ridiculous to make a character that looks exactly like a comic book character, but I still wouldn't petition him. I did not sign up to police other people in-game.

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So, would you be upset if Marvel sued NCSoft again and won, getting the entire game shut down....and then you found out that it was because of a character you could have petitioned, but didn't?

I would.

I don't feel it's my job to "police" people, and I don't go around petitioning every questionable character I see. And with my comic book knowledge I've seen a LOT of them.

But in the case of the toon linked in the OP? Yeah, I would have petitioned that one in a heartbeat.

Any blatant ripoff of a character like that I will petition. Obscure characters, or clever homages I tend to leave alone.

The name, appearance, and backstory are all lifted from Marvel. Being a musician who has been ripped off before, I do what I can to keep it from happening to others.

(The material I had ripped off wasn't anything you ever would have heard. Two members of my former band quit and formed another band, using songs that I had written before they joined mine in the first place. They went nowhere, so it didn't bother me that much. Had they gone on to win a Grammy with one of them, yes I would have sued their pants off, as I have date-marked, recorded proof that the songs existed prior to them being in the band)

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Res judicata, I would think, would apply here, but I am no lawyer.

That and the Wolf's Throat, get's 'em every time.

Focused Accuracy gets a lot of negative flak, for some reason.

Not sure why, I love it, gives me a great place for some awesome IO's too.

That used to drive me insane when trying to pick a power.

Like "slightly increasing" something.

Like slow recharge vs. long recharge.

Glad they gave us the real numbers!!!

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Nope. Ain't gonna happen. The aggro cap came into place to stop higher level Tankers from aggroing massive amounts of enemies and defeating them all at once. Tankers were doing dumpster dives after pulling entire maps way back in the day. I doubt the devs will go anywhere toward that direction.

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I am fully aware of why the aggro cap was put into place, in spite of what my registration date shows (newish account), I've been playing non-stop since early '05.

It doesn't really appear as if you actually took the time to see that it was a suggestion to slowly raise the aggro cap over a level range, and my suggestion was 2 per 10 levels. This is nowhere near watching a level 35 Fire/Fire Tank, pre-ED, herd a map and stand there without any real danger of dying and wipe out an entire mission solo. It isn't even close.

Going from the current cap, which is equal at level 1, 25, and 50, and slowly increasing it over the lifetime of a Tanker to 10 over the current cap, can hardly be considered equal to "dumpster diving" and holding aggro for 50, 75, 100+ mob's.

At least take the time to understand what is suggested before you presume the person who posted it is too stupid to know the history of some of the game changes.

Considering how few Tankers actually make it to 30, 40 and 50, compared to farm-friendly AT's, I don't think its too large a leap to at least consider upping the aggro cap (considering, thematically, as a Tank gains experience, he or she should be able to grab more aggro and hold it (though the latter aspect you didn't knee-jerk a /jranger to)) to 10 more than the current cap over the full 50 levels of a Tank.

In the past, I've always thought that Gauntlet was about as sucky an Inherent power as there is.

But that always came from a guy who never took a Tank above level 15 or so.

Now that I've finally got one in the mid-30's, I'd like to throw out this idea:

Have Gauntlet increase the aggro cap by X amount per Y level, say, for example, 2 per 10 levels, increasing the aggro cap to a new maximum of 26 (if the cap is 16, which I think it is, or 14, then to 24). Also increase the Magnitude of the Taunt affect in gauntlet as you rise.

As your Tanker gains experience in leading the charge into battle, he or she becomes more able to grab and hold aggro.

Check out HP and Dell for refurbished desktops.

Also, what do you have that can be pirated into your $300 system?

If you have most of the basics covered, and can build your own rig, try newegg.com for the parts.

IF this is a leveling build, might I suggest taking a few of your attacks earlier?

It will be a long road with Lunge and Spine Burst for 17 levels and Quills as your attacks for 23 levels.

Throws in a vote for Focused Accuracy.

Its a good place for some fun IO's too.

If it can be done from in-game to the baords, yes, that would be great.

Kinda the City Vault thing, but then again, not seeing that either so...

Dunno if anyone has suggested it, but is there a way (or has it already been done? I guess I should look) to have the Dev Choices, 5 star, 4 star, etc arcs on this board?

I'd third the idea that you should, early on, focus on taking your attacks. You aren't going to be much of a tank anyways, may as well get through those early levels as quickly as possible.

As for combos, I'd give /DB a look, if for no other reason than you don't want to and don't think it fits thematically. I did that with Spines on my Scrapper and have never looked back. After my experiences of falling in love with Spines, I gave DB a look on a Brute (love it), Plants a look on a Controller (its growing on me! Get it?), and so on.

Good luck, hope you find a combo that works for your style.

I think its an accomplishment to solo an AV, regardless of what temporary powers or inspirations you use.

It will give you a good idea of what you REALLY need to solo HC, as in no temps/insps, because you'll obviously find the area(s) in your build that, should you shoose to build an AV solo'er.

Personally, I'd give credit to the solo with temps/insps, more to the just insps, and the most to those who go hardcore.

Heck, anyone willing to spend that much time mashing buttons to kill just one AV is getting props from me, because frankly it bores me to tears.