Lxndr

So, people are talking up PinnBadges, and I decided to join to maybe find a team for my solo-unfriendly pre-pet Earth/Empathy controller.

Today I log on, and join the channel! And I try to participate in the conversation (because it's interesting, and I'd rather converse than just plop in a "hey, team plz?"). But... the channel denies me.

How can I make the channel like me?

I've just got back into the game. I have some alts on Pinnacle (as well as Liberty, Virtue, and my new home Defiant). I haven't had any more trouble than in the past getting teams.

Though it seems to me that it's a wee bit difficult to get teams anywhere other than the 41-50 grind, or at level 50 (on any server), because people are rather enamored by the shiny new Incarnate stuff.

Okay, so apparently once I get to level 24 I can play around with the various branches of the VEATs. Here's what I'm understanding:

* With my Widow, I can have two builds, one Fortunata and one Night Widow. This does not affect the costuming at all.

* With my Spider, I can have two builds, one Crab and one Bane. HOWEVER, if I have the Crab on at least one of my builds, I'm stuck with the backpack for all costumes.

So... cosmetically speaking it would behoove me to not bother with two builds on my Spider and just play two spiders - one for Crab and one for Bane.

Yes?

So, I've played almost every single /Buff powerset that exists in the game, across many ATs. I'm trying to avoid duplication as much as possible. (I just finally gave in and created a second /Kin).

Unfortunately, I have a difficult time finding teams; also I kind of enjoy being solo.

I'd like to try out Dual Pistols. But I'm also trying to avoid duplication (otherwise I'd just probably grab Radiation, which I've had fun with on my Grav/Rad). And it looks like both /Therm and /Pain have tons of ally-target powers (6 on therm, 5 on pain domination).

So... given that circumstances are likely to force me into soloing... which is a "better" choice?

From a purely roleplaying perspective, I like origins. But from a mechanical perspective, I'm more confused. Especially since you *must* choose one during character creation.

Hell, in Freedom you must choose it before you even get to the meat of your character.

What am I missing? Here's what Origins seem to do:

This is compiled from memory, so I'm sure I'm missing something:

(1) For heroes origins determine one's starting missions. This does not affect Villains or Praetorians, and appears to be not-so-true in the Beta, too.

(2) Origins serve as a filtering system for DOs and SOs. Which are being deprecated by IOs, anyway.

(3) Origin-specific powers. Certainly somewhat flavorful. (and at least in one case, can make or break certain builds - Trick Arrow apparently is advised to take certain Origins to ignite their Oil Slick)

(4) Origin-specific titles. Again, certainly somewhat flavorful.

Is there anything I'm missing that could possibly make the Origin the end-all be-all that the character creation screen treats it?

Some of the 'must be on the ground' powers make sense to me - the stone ones, particularly.

But some don't - Glacier?

Sadly I could not find any tricks. Even attempting to use Cedega, or whatever it's called, failed.

So I shelled out some cash for a windows machine just for gaming.

As I recall, Controllers and Masterminds are locked from free play. The stated reason is "they tend to drain CPU time more." I can't find a post on this, but I know there was one.

I understand that justification for Masterminds - the henchman stuff probably has the game doing backflips. But Controllers? They're Control/Buff. You can already get both of those sets in at least one AT that's already existing.

Dominators have Control (/Assault)
Corruptors have /Buff.

I'd say a Dominator and a Corruptor, teamed up, is ALMOST the same as a Blaster (Ranged/Support) and a Controller (Control/Buff). I'm playing fast and loose here suggesting that ranged/support is similar to ranged/assault. But still.. what extra CPU cycles would a Controller take, that any other non-Mastermind wouldn't? Is it Containment?

Part of what I love about this game is just the sheer number of options and choices with characters.

----
Blasters have ten primary powers, and six secondary powers, leading to sixty completely unique combinations.

Brutes have eleven primary powers, and nine secondary powers, leading to ninety nine unique combinations.

Controllers have eight primary powers and nine secondary powers, leading to seventy two unique combinations.

Corruptors have ten primary powers and ten secondary powers, leading to exactly one hundred unique combinations.

Defenders have ten primary powers and ten secondary powers, leading to exactly one hundred unique combinations.

Dominators have seven primaries and seven secondaries, leading to forty nine unique combinations.

Masterminds have six primaries and eight secondaries, leading to forty-eight unique combinations.

Scrappers have ten primaries and eight secondaries, leading to eighty unique combinations.

Stalkers have ten primaries and seven secondaries, leading to seventy unique combinations.

Tankers have eight primaries and eleven secondaries, leading to eighty-eight unique combinations.

This is 766 combinations.

EDIT: I had 666 combinations before, but that's moot now. I forgot Corruptors.

I'm glad I'm on the west coast. Soon as I get home from work (4 or 5), I should be able to log in and play around with Time Manipulation (which has captured my imagination too much to be anything other than my immediate goal).

What is 'toe bombing'?

This almost sounds like the 'combo' mechanic from Dual Blades (and possibly Street Justice, too?).

The wording of what you say makes it sound like "the more you use Beam Weapon, the more damage it tends to do."

Which doesn't sound like a debuff, so much as a buff. Though this could just be random flavor text.

Okay. I know there's a lot of hate levied on this power - justifiable hate, as far as I can tell.

But.. does any good ever come out of this power? Is it ever useful?

I have a concept character on which Time Bomb would make a lot of sense. He's not quite at 38 yet, but I'm forward-looking.

Having issues connecting to the CoH Planner website.

Did you consider posting the actual build here (in text), and not just links and data blocks?

It might make it easier to give feedback; I'd love to give you feedback, but unfortunately there's internet connectivity issues.

In the popup text for Glacier, a hold in the Ice Control set, it says the power can be cast "near" the ground. This is incorrect. The error message that pops up when trying to cast it near the ground says "you must be on the ground." Replace 'near' with 'on'.

This typographical error has been in the game since Issue 0.

So... I cannot stand crafting. It is a set of actions that adds tedium to a game I otherwise love. When the Invention system was added, I almost left the game. But I realized I could just ignore it all.

Meanwhile, I don't mind popping by the auction house and dumping my inventory, so at least I'm getting influence and not wasting the goods that I collect.

Now, what comes out of crafting IS kinda nifty. I don't care about procs or set bonuses for now, but an enhancement that doesn't decay is something that appeals to me.

So, I'm considering moving out of fully-SOing my character once it becomes sensible to use IOs instead. However, I do not want to craft ANY of these things. So, the auction house it is.

And it appears there are enough other people that adore crafting that I could probably pop into an auction house and grab some stuff.

However, unlike NPC stores, auction house items have prices set by players (another thing that isn't fun for me - in both directions).

My questions are as follows:

1. At what level would it be sensible to switch from SOs to IOs?
1a. When do IOs start giving at least as much benefit as a green SO?

2. How much can I expect to spend on a full suite of said IOs? (without buying the raw materials and going through the tedium of crafting)

3. How much time would it take? Comparable to going to an NPC store?