Oedipus_Tex

The first two because DP/TA will make you want to suicide due to the redraw.

I love these suggestions. Especially Psi Resistance in Clarity. I think there is a very good case for "Sonic Armor" to have Psi resistance.

The DDR in Force Field is a given. Considering Cold Domination gets 60% resistance to -Recharge and -Run Speed in a 40ft radius (including self) 50% or more DDR seems completely justified.

I also think something needs to be done to make Force Bubble a better power. I don't know what exactly but lots of suggestions have come and gone in the past.

Hasten: yes, remove the graphic (and sound!) immediately. If we ever get pool customization, it can be restored by the few people who want that look. It would be more suitable if all Fire were orange, but it often isn't.

Fiery Aura: That pulsing Fire effect is a real eyesore. It's hard to say what I dislike about it exactly. It just looks like less of an animation and more of a pulsing banner to me.

Everything else: I'm fine with for the most part. I don't get the sense at all that the effects are designed to be the only ones on the screen. I get the sense that the game was built to look chaotic, which is something it achieves. The Ice shields are unattractive though. I wouldn't mind Ice shields that looked more like a swirling icy mist.

Attempted build below. I rate this as a fairly mediocre attempt; I only spent about half an hour. IMO Thermal is a particularly difficult set to IO well because its strengths aren't concentrated in a small group of powers.

I ended up using the +3% defense PVP IO to cover gaps. That IO is incredibly expensive so I don't know whether I'd actually persue it. IMO the recharge in this build is also lower than what would be ideal, but Thermal tends to fight you on that front.

FYI the knockdown proc in Fences and the knockup in Psi Nado mean that enemies that fall lose their chance to respond entirely (they will probably be asleep again before they can stand).

Cardiac is definitely the recommended alpha slot for this build.

[EDIT: BTW my Mids is bugged so I can't slot the 6th purple Confuse and 6th Gaussian for the additional +7.5% defense. Total Ranged defense should be 44.1%]



Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.941
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Electric Control
Secondary Power Set: Thermal Radiation
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Tesla Cage -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(7), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(9), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(9), Dmg-I(46), HO:Perox(46)
Level 1: Warmth -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(3), Numna-Heal(3), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(5), Numna-Heal/Rchg(5), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 2: Thermal Shield -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(50)
Level 4: Chain Fences -- Ragnrk-Knock%(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(39), GravAnch-Hold%(50)
Level 6: Cauterize -- Heal-I(A)
Level 8: Conductive Aura -- Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(48)
Level 10: Plasma Shield -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(11)
Level 12: Static Field -- FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(A), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(13), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(13), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(15), FtnHyp-Sleep(15)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(17), Zephyr-ResKB(17), DefBuff-I(21), DefBuff-I(50)
Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 18: Boxing -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(19), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(19), Stpfy-KB%(23), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(25), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(43)
Level 20: Thaw -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 22: Tough -- GA-3defTpProc(A)
Level 24: Paralyzing Blast -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(25), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(37), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37)
Level 26: Synaptic Overload -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(27), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(27), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(36), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(36), Empty(37)
Level 28: Forge -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(29), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(29), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(31), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(31), Empty(34)
Level 30: Weave -- RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(31), RedFtn-Def(39), RedFtn-EndRdx(40), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(40), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 32: Gremlins -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(33), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(34), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(34)
Level 35: Heat Exhaustion -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 38: Melt Armor -- ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(A), AnWeak-Acc/Rchg(39), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 41: Mental Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(43), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Psionic Tornado -- Dmg-I(A), HO:Nucle(48)
Level 49: Mind Over Body -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A)
Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(11)

Invisibility also prevents auras from working while its up. So on an Ice Fire or Electric troller or anyone else with a large area effecting aura its not bad for running past bad guys without having to detoggle first.

Take a look at Radiation Blast colored bright white. One of the toons in my sig, the "Swede of Light" is a Fire/Kin with similar coloring. I sort of regret rerolling him from Radiation/Kinetics Corruptor because I think the original was more thematic, but so it goes.

If what you're looking for is more like "chromatic light" I also have toon called "Fedora Borealis" who is a Fire/Radiation Controller. You can get some really brilliant effects from that combo.

Energy Blast/Assault colored correctly also looks very light-ish.

I personally don't find anything in Electric terribly skippable. Jolting Chain comes the closest but it has its uses. It would be the first to go for me on a very tight build, but I'd probably take it while leveling up and spec out of it later.

I personally differ from other posters and would not skip Chain Fences though. That is your source of AoE Containment. You can sort of use Static Field for Containment but that goes away at the first hint of Damage Over Time. Even if you don't end up with any DoT powers, your enemies might and because they will be confused, they will use it on each other and cost you that extra damage.

Further, Fences can be slotted with a knockdown proc and a chance to hold proc. The power can then be spammed to maximize these. And even without the procs, Fences is your only reliable source of AoE -Recovery debuff, with a 40% chance per cast.

For Thermal, IMO the most skippable power is Power of the Phoenix. PotP is one of the most endurance-expensive powers in the game: half your endurance bar. At base it also takes nearly a full 2 minutes longer to recharge than rezz powers in other sets.

Any idea yet who "eligible" targets are? Is it just team members, team members including only your pets, just league members, league members including pets, every living thing in the general area, etc?

Also, will the power change for critters? The Rikti might have just gotten a LOT more interesting.

Proliferate that sweet "oil burst" costume change to the unplanned planned Water Control set.

I preferred my original suggestion of these buffs still being single target but "renewed" by certain conditions. E.g. Force Fields renewed by touching the caster's Dispersion Bubble, Thermal's shields renewed by Warmth, etc. That may not have not have been possible for technical reasons or they may have their own motivations. However there is no denying that this change is way, way better than the previous version.

However...

Double dipping here, I forgot about a few other noob moments.

I remember reading the message boards during my first week to get pointers on how to play. My conclusion after reading for a week or two was that only very specific combinations of powersets were any good and everything else was completely worthless.

At one point very early I rolled a Force Field Defender, and spent a lot of time running around in PFF. That power has a kind of weird whining sound effect it makes. For about a month I thought that was the game's music. I told my friend that game has the weirdest soundtrack I've ever heard.

It also took me about a week of playing to realize the enemies in the Hollows were all different "gangs." And another week to realize soloing in the Hollows wasn't what an Earth/Thermal Controller with only the single target hold (unslotted for damage, naturally) is supposed to be trying to accomplish.

But the most mortifying was when I first started experimenting with Arctic Air. It used to not display purple confusion bubbles to indicate when an enemy got confused. But, I figured out that you could read the combat text to see when it was happening. The text says something like "Enemy is confused by your Arctic Air!" Well, it turns out this text displays on stuff with mezz protection, like, say, AVs. But for several months I was practically on top of every AV or GM my group fought, believing the power was working on them invisibly.

I didn't know there was a difference between radio missions and contact missions for at least my first six months of playing. All of my early characters who got above level 10 were extremely low damage (Earth and Ice Controllers and the most horribly endurance-starved Dark Armor tanker you can imagine). In fairness, this was during the period when once you picked up a mission you couldn't abandon it. After picking up one or two and being completely unable to finish it, I swore off ever talking to a contact again. I just found out that sometimes contact missions give you temp powers maybe a year and half ago, when I actually did any of them for the first (and more or less only) time.

Thermal will be changed in the next issue to have AoE shield buffing, so at least that aspect of it is going by the wayside.

For those of you who haven't read about this already, I thought I'd share the good news. I never thought I'd actually see the day, but going live in the next issue:

After reading the thread, I find myself not agreeing with any of the comments made except maybe about the nature of villain content. Personally I think that the main contributor just has very limited experience and an opinion colored by that certain fantasy game. Then there are the statements that are just flat wrong, like:

Actually Tankers do not get AA.. it is a power unique to Ice Control. It is also probably one of the best powers in the game, even it shows up in a set that is not generally regarded as among the best. If Tankers could get it though they'd be all over it.

You can swap Combat Jumping out for Hover and maintain more or less the same bonuses. I have to admit I'm not the hugest fan of Hover though. It's an ok place to slot LotG and some defense, but so is Combat Jumping. CJ gives you immobilize protection, where Hover can be replaced with a Jet Pack. It's not that the ability to fly itself isn't useful (it is) but that Hover specifically is so easily replaced, especially at high levels where endurance matters much less. CJ meanwhile grants you the ability to stay at range... even when using your jet pack.

If Hover is more of a concept thing though you could still go with it, although I question how often you would use it. I mean, I do see Ice characters playing exclusively from range a bit of the time, but I'm somewhat skeptical of their actual control output. Shiver is a power more or less analgous to Quicksand or Glue Arrow. It is not a primary control power. If you truly do want to use slows in this way, one option is to roll an /Ice Blaster or a Storm or Cold Defender/Corruptor (for Snow Storm). Those builds can indeed be played from range mostly successfully. With Ice Control it's an uphill battle.

I was introduced to this game by a friend who had recently rolled a Kinetics Defender. He explained that the critical power in Kinetics was Repel and in order to use it you run into every enemy you can.

This player was also enamored of The Hollows. He took me there at level 5 or 6 and our first mission was waaaay on the other side. After LOTS of dying trying to reach the door, I somehow got a level. So I took Hover, and Hovered all the way from one end of the zone to the other, all the while saying how stupid this game was. ;P

I also used to think Hasten was a "situational" power and skipped it on all of my Controller builds. Builds, by the way, that were Earth and Ice Control with no damage at all slotted in the holds. Later on the Ice character got trapped in a holding cell and had to log out of the game because he couldn't do enough damage to break out.