Memphis_Bill

Welcome.

COH is estimated to have around 100-120,000 subs, give or take. (Haven't had solid numbers for anything from NCSoft for a while.) Most people are going to be in instanced missions, which can be a bit of a shock for those coming from other MMOs where everyone's doing pretty much everything outside and in full view.

When you pick a server, wander down to the server boards and say hi.

A "good build for soloing" - there's no one good build You have ten Archetypes (classes) to choose from, with the epic (story-based) ATs unlocking at lvl 20 (each side) for a total of 14. Each AT plays differently, and can play wildly differently between powersets *inside* the AT.

That said, most times you'll find the Scrapper (heroside) or Brute (villainside) suggested for a first time player. (Me, I ended up with a blaster for my first level 50. No mez protection, but ranged and fun.)

I think the biggest issue is going to be the - eh, for a lack of better way of putting it, "acceptable power level" the devs will let you have. (Not to be confused with power leveling.)

Right now, if you choose to make one thing "auto," you have to pay attention to something else. It's a matter of "if you want one thing, how much is it worth giving up?" If I want Stamina, typically three slotted, I have to make room for it and put off or not take other things. If I want a permadom (to use the most blatant example of game-changing, even post-buff,) I have to pay attention. I can have either Hasten on auto or Domination, and pay attention to the other. Having both on auto? Unless I need it for a set mule, I could drop Stamina even MORE easily, since I know both powers would be firing off ASAP, giving me knockback and status protection and an instant END refill as fast as I can get Domination back.

And if *that* happened - well, the devs don't mind it now because it takes some effort to do (and if you miss a click, you've got to start from scratch.) Giving the permadom people two autopowers? I'd expect a nerf that would affect *every* Dom in return, as it would move the AT into a region (on a regular basis) it's not intended to be in. Quite likely Domination would have its recharge lengthened and unable to be affected by recharge bonuses or hasten. And that I'd hate (no, I have no permadoms, nor do I build for it.)

I'm - ambivalent about it.

Minor stretches for some groups, sure, just to extend writing possibilities - but I really don't see the Hellions and Skulls being a threat into the 30s. Their storylines do lend themselves to a "bleed over" into other groups. Filling out their stories? Sure. But a basic street gang (which, even with their powers, they are in Paragon) *should* fade away. (And running across a few Skulls in a later Malta mission, with them barely taking more than a Brawl or two to take down, gives a good feel that your character has really advanced.)

On the other hand, yeah, some groups just vanish way too fast. The Tsoo, for instance, have a *lot* going on internally that we don't get to see (all the boss types, etc.) But they just sort of go "poof." They shouldn't be a "still fighting at 50" threat, but they could use more exploration.

My main level-range beef, though, tends to be the Banished Pantheon. They vanish by the 30s, then suddenly come back up in the 40s. (Alternate dimension, sure, but still BP.) This really came to light in AE's release. There's a lot that could be done with them - they had the power to sacrifice a city zone, they're fighting the CoT (and their deities are as old, if not older,) but we don't really get to go in depth with them either.

Interesting idea. And I can actually think of a time I'd have used it (before the 'super-tailor" let us change body scales, etc. on each costume.)

Don't think I'd use it *now,* but I'm for it.

The dev answer has been "No." Not "We can't do it," or "It would be too difficult," but a blunt, flat out "no."

Just a few posts down from you.

Wait for GR and roll a Mind/Fire dom. Ton of fun. (Or don't wait and play redside. Cranked up the difficulty at level 3 and have kept going.)
If you want controller - sure, Mind/FF is safe, but boring. You don't have anything really assisting you when you solo, nothing boosting your damage (or debuffing the enemies, etc.) Mind/Emp I found - well, dull. Then again, I played (and deleted) it before dual builds, so I was trying to keep some balance between solo and group utility. Dual builds will help with that quite a bit.

Oh, and I disagree with fortunata. Sure, they unlock at 20. Then you have to play them to 24, deal with the forced respec, THEN start "being a fortunata." I've gotten to really dislike that entire aspect of the VEATs. (Aside from finding them just flat out "not fun.")

Regardless, I still don't see Psy blasters as "mentalists," personally. But that's personal bias (and nothing against the set.) Speed, they'll be faster. You asked about escape options, though? How about confusing, terrorizing, holding and/or putting to sleep everything that faces you? You can, of course, pair that with /Rad, lowering enemy defense, resistance and damage, plus buffing yourself and your teammates - it'll be a somewhat tight build with all the stuff you'll want to take, though.

Yeah, lesson for the future, update drivers first thing Glad you got it working!

My main concern with #4 is being able to put in the upper limit - "You will have to defeat at least 50 of these" - and have it work (And have it indicated.) I'd hate to have that end up lost trying to implement this sort of thing.

Main reason being that that guaranteed number is part of why I don't mind hunts in COH versus other MMOs. I hated getting hunts in (for instance) Aion or Guild Wars - at least the "And bring back X many thingamajigs." Sometimes they'd drop one after the other, bam, bam, bam, other times your "Get 10 X" turned into "Kill 60 or so of these things and hope another drops eventually."

If it can be set up in such a way that the upper limit can be kept? Great.

That said, there are some points option 4 doesn't fit, either. "Make some breathing room between group X and Y - defeat a bunch of both" would seem awfully silly if the game happened to decide the first one or two of group one were enough, but you had to defeat thirty of group two.

*raises hand*

Sorry, but I've gotten TOs, high level, non exemplared - not often, but on occasion, yes. And DOs in the mid-late 30s (I want to say past that, as well, but having just gotten rid of a few I can at least vouch for mid-late 30s.)

It's not common, but it does happen.

Nicely done.

And yeah. When it does come up and I poke my nose into the discussion I end up stressing communication continually, before, during, and after.

(Before - Rates and expectations, what do you want, when does s/he expect payment, timeframe, that sort of thing,
During - Any delays, progress, sketches, etc. and adjustments,
After - Did anything go wrong regardless that can be fixed? And yes, tell the artist you like the piece, or any concerns, etc.)

Last time I teamed with a TA, Oil Slick lit pretty reliably. No numbers, though - wonder if Herostats logs missed oil slick lightings, it'd make finding out rather easy.