NeonMan

Okay, I'll bite on the opening price (2.5B).

Erm, maybe you're pulling our collective legs, but... you sound as if you perhaps aren't aware of the in-game advertising system that the devs have already put in place (but sadly isn't used), which includes a handy toggle to turn it off if you don't want to see the ads. I myself would love to have this system actually used and see RL ads in-game. Firstly, it's more immersive since the game is in a contemporary setting; my heroes actually would use RL products. Secondly, more CoH funds means more resources for my favorite game.

One thing that might be considered, given that you probably have a limited advertising budget, is working out some ad exchange deals. Offer a company usage of our in-game billboards for some CoX time on their website banner ads, print ads, or whatever. I'm not a business guy, but I can see such an exchange being more acceptable to small companies than asking them to hand over cash for advertising in-game, since they also have limited ad budgets.

I created a Storm/Energy with this exact same reasoning, and for the "lulz" value - 4 years later she's become my main. It's an incredibly powerful combo when used well, and is just plain fun to play. The learning curve is steep however. Solo is the most fun since I can just cut loose and fling things around, but it's also pretty satisfying when you can not only off-tank a second aggro'd mob, but proceed to toss them at the tanker's feet.

For power pools I'd recommend Fitness obviously since Storm is an end hog, either Fighting for Tough and Weave or Medicine for Aid Self, and Leadership for Assault and Maneuvers. Plus a travel power of choice - I'd recommend Leaping just for Combat Jumping, since Immobilizes when you need to maneuver (which is constantly) will make you cry, but anything works.

For IO slotting, don't forget one of the nicer perks of Energy Blast, the dirt cheap KB set damage proc (Explosive Strike I believe it's in). This also goes nicely in Lightning Storm. If you picked up and slotted Steamy Mist, Weave, and Maneuvers you're already over halfway to the defense cap, and soft capping ranged defense is a solid investment. I myself went a more unusual route, picking up lots of +hp and +regen - it's worked well for me and it's fun being a /regen defender, but I get mezzed more than if I'd gone with straight defense.

My play style varies a lot depending on the team, but I tend to spend a lot of time on the opposite side of the mob from the rest of the group, knocking stuff back towards them - this is usually the best route when fighting in open terrain (such as the aforementioned ITF). This actually lets me mitigate the knockback of other teammates who use it, using Hurricane and my own KB as a backstop. The stealth from Steamy Mist doesn't suppress in combat, often letting me keep the fight from bleeding into the next mob by playing sheepdog.

On the other hand if the terrain's there, use it. Corners and closets are killing fields, but with practice anything near a wall is in trouble. Don't forget the trick of dropping Lightning Storm to push them in one direction while you push them in from the other. This requires either complex vector math or a lot of trial and error: I chose the latter. Anyway, I hope you have as much fun with it as I have!

p.s. For the first 20-30 levels having a key bound to "/team Oops!" isn't a bad idea, and having a sense of humor is a must.

Edit: syntax error corrected

Well, did the team do that much damage before they arrived? No? Then I consider them to be damage dealers, yes, since they are contributing damage to the team. If built and played well, on a full team they contribute damage FAR in excess of their percentage of the team makeup. Fun facts (using Defender numbers here):

1 member out of 8 = 12.5% of the team roster.
Assault adds 9.3-ish% damage to the team.

Therefore a Defender doing nothing but running Assault and blasting is contributing at least their fair share of the team's damage. That's not even touching their primary powerset, most of which can buff team damage far in excess of that. To pick a random example Freezing Rain debuffs resist by 22% vs. +3 opponents (more if they're lower). So by hitting one power per fight, running Assault, and shooting said Defender is contributing more damage than any blaster I've ever managed to build. Maybe there's some miracle blaster who can top that, if so I'd like to see the build.

Oh, they could also do some "defendey" stuff too, I guess. *shrug*

They sure would. Said damage dealer often won't even realize that he's become even better due to the actions of another character, he'll just melt spawns faster than before and think, "Wow, I'm amazing!" This is why I included the caveat that helping the team isn't the way to go if you're egocentric. Some knowledgeable players will recognize the contribution, most will just wonder why their last team sucked compared to this one.

p.s. Sorry about the sidetrack, but Player99 was asking good questions and I wanted to address them. Done with the pro-buff/debuff ranting now!

If you aren't obsessed with personal orange numbers, I'd have to say the Kinetics and Sonic Blast combo on a Defender/Corrupter running the leadership pool. The amount of damage that character can add to the team output is equivalent to several non-buffing characters, assuming the rest of the team is at least slightly competent.

Actually the personal orange numbers aren't too bad either...