Oedipus_Tex

I have an Elec/FF troller. He's around level 33 or so.

Like you said, soloing will be slow at first. However, the long term prognosis you will eventually be able to outsolo most Defenders and even some average Corruptors. That's because of Containment combined with sheer safety of the control sets. Controllers get a pretty ridiculous--and IMO unintended--lead on defeating huge numbers of foes, and while neither FF or Electric particularly lend themselves to this, the epic powers you get starting at level 41 definitely do.

A few things you should know about Force Field. First, Maneuvers should generally be considered a required power (altho this is much more true of Defenders than Controllers). Beyond that, the only must-haves are Deflection Shield, Insulation Shield, and Dispersion Bubble. You can honestly skip everything else in the set and come out clean. Whether you should depends on your overall strategy.

In a manner of speaking, you can think of Force Field as being an armor set you happen to share with teammates. Essentially it's a communal version of Super Reflexes. Despite this, in a way it's ahead of that set because unlike SR all of your personal +Defense comes from just three or four powers. Typically, this is Dispersion Bubble, Maneuvers, and in some cases Combat Jumping and Weave.

Now, a lot of people say that FF's buffs are "wasted" at high levels because of rampant IO availability. IMO this sort of misses the point. While it means your shared buffs become less useful, your ability to IO yourself actually becomes somewhat obscene. Of the "buff/debuff" sets, only Traps surpasses Force Field in terms of your ability to IO yourself into tank-magedom. Traps isn't currently available to Controllers, and if the developers have any sense at all, never will be without serious modifications. It is completely within the realm of possibility for a /FF Controller to IO him or herself to defense to nearly every position. This is generally not necessary or desirable, but because it is possible it hopefully illustrates how FF can easily grab very high personal defenses.

One of my own possible builds for Elec/FF is posted below. I am not sure I would actually spend money on the expensive purple set or PVP IO here, but they could be eventual goals. What you will note is I intentionally did not hit 45% defense to any position. That's because alpha slots with +Defense make up about as much defense as is missing. This is hard to calculate--I had to use a spreadsheet--but hopefully I'm correct.

This version has Ranged, AoE, and Psi Defense as it main draws, plus 65% Slash/Lethal resistance, 43% Energy Resistance, and Aid Other and Aid Self for me/the pets. Fire and Cold defense kind of tagged along for the ride. Smash/Lethal/Melee are just ok, ending up at around 34% defense once alphas are slotted, which is still pretty good considering I wasn't actually building for them! It would be possible to close this gap entirely by taking a defense based armor in an APP, but I prefer having Resistance for what does get through to just capping a bunch of positions.

I'm meanwhile unsure of how the 5% defense IO in the epic pet works. I figure the pet is coming in at around 44 defense to all but Psi as long as it stays within my big bubble. I don't know whether the extra defense also affects the imps.

Note that I would lack a single target blast. That kind of sucks but it was a tradeoff between that or the extra endurance + protected pet with a heal. There is no combo of epic pet, radial AoE blast, and resistance based shield. If it bothers you, you could take Mace Mastery. This actually means you cap Slash/Lethal defense, but lose a lot of resistance.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.90
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

electric ff: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Electric Control
Secondary Power Set: Force Field
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Medicine
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Tesla Cage -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(3), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dev'n-Hold%(17)
Level 1: Personal Force Field -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 2: Deflection Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(7), DefBuff-I(25)
Level 4: Chain Fences -- Ragnrk-Knock%(A), GravAnch-Hold%(7), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(11), Posi-Dam%(29), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(46)
Level 6: Jolting Chain -- Apoc-Dmg(A), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(9), Apoc-Dam%(9), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(15), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(17)
Level 8: Conductive Aura -- Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(13), Efficacy-EndMod(29)
Level 10: Insulation Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(11), DefBuff-I(13)
Level 12: Static Field -- Acc-I(A)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 16: Electric Fence -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Dev'n-Hold%(40), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(42), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42)
Level 18: Paralyzing Blast -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(19), Lock-Rchg/Hold(19), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21), Lock-%Hold(23)
Level 20: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 22: Dispersion Bubble -- DefBuff-I(A), HO:Enzym(39), HO:Enzym(39)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(25), HO:Enzym(34)
Level 26: Synaptic Overload -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(27), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(27), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(31), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(31), CoPers-Conf%(34)
Level 28: Tough -- GA-3defTpProc(A), Aegis-ResDam(36), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(36), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(36), S'fstPrt-ResKB(37), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(39)
Level 30: Aid Other -- Heal-I(A)
Level 32: Gremlins -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), BldM'dt-Acc(34), BldM'dt-Dmg(43)
Level 35: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(37), HO:Enzym(43)
Level 38: Aid Self -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(40)
Level 41: Charged Armor -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(42), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Ball Lightning -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg(45), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng(46)
Level 47: Summon Guardian -- S'bndAl-Dmg/Rchg(A), S'bndAl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), S'bndAl-Acc/Rchg(48), S'bndAl-Dmg(48), C'Arms-+Def(Pets)(50), EdctM'r-PetDef(50)
Level 49: Power Sink -- P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod(46)

It is hard to go wrong with Primal on a Mind Controller.

Fire/Rad in multiple hues stands in for the aurora borealis on my interdimensional detective, Fedora Borealis.




Fire/Kin colored pure white stands in for "light" for Swede of Light.

The weirdest combo I've never seen past level 20: Ice/Sonic Resonance Controller.

I did once, long ago, play this to level 13. This was when I knew less about sets and just thought Sonic was "force field with debuff." Glad I rerolled out of that one before the endurance bar overheard my plans to run AA with Sonic's toggles.

No, but I only have about 6. I have one Dominator version of a character I decided I preferred as a Controller who got sent off to another server and effectively deleted, if not actually. But then I am the sort of person who prefers posting on message boards to actually playing on double XP weekend, so take that for whats its worth.

Actually, I agree with the OP. By giving us Swift and Hurdle together, the result is we jump faster than we run. I used to hate this about Hurdle back in the day. Compared to, well, every game I've played, it is weird/uncomfortable to me to constantly be jumping everywhere to speed up.

But a "nerf" isn't exactly what's needed IMO. Total base Run Speed should simply be equal to total base Jump Speed. It's not like you'd be getting there any faster. You just wouldn't have to keep jumping.

Speaking purely from min/max perspective, /Sonic Attack. Force Field has no -Resistance of its own. Dark Blast is not a bad choice but when/if you get to the IO stage is serious overkill on defense and very hard to kill anything with.

Dual Pistols gets an honorable mention for the fact that it can nuke at melee with a great degree of safety with some IOing. Since Traps can do this too, if you go this route make sure you're taking FF out of a desire to buff some teammates.

I have a 50 FF/Ice and it is ok. My Elec/FF Controller does seem a bit stronger though, even with his weaker shields.

In this day and age there are many other options besides the /Kin set. That particular set honestly drives me insane with its need for baby sitting. But then, I don't have much of a "farmer" mentality, and am able to make do with even sets like Ice Control, which, with some coaching from people in the market forums, I was able to transform from a leach into a self sufficient and heavily IOed fun factory.

So the first thing you need to ask yourself is "why am I rolling this character." If it's because you think you need to farm* to succeed at high levels, I say stop right there, tell us the character you really want to play, and we will direct you here on the best way to obtain IOs for him or her, and the folks on the market forum will explain how to make each drop you find count. The only reason to roll a farmer is if you truly, truly enjoy the actual act of farming. How many enemies you can kill how quickly has little meaning when doing it makes you miserable.

In any case, an alternative to either /Kin set is some variety of /Psi Dominator, who will put out a lot of damage, requires far less maintenance, and is absolutely terrifyingly overpowered even outside of the farming world due to high endurance and hit point recovery, mezz protection, an endurance bar that refills every time you pop domination, and mag 6 holds/stuns/confuses/sleeps/immobs.

[EDIT: For clarification purposes, by "farm" I mean hand picking very easy enemies to kill in large numbers very quickly. Just about any Controller or Dominator has methods available for killing large numbers of enemies at level 50. The only question is speed, and whether you mind being locked into a specific "optimal" choice of enemy. Fire/Kin is not a build I would want to try against +2 Rularuu or Arachnos, for example.]

Probably Electric or Earth. But in either case I tend to feel Thermal works better.

Sonic is not unplayable. But having played it twice into the 40s I really don't like it. Thermal accomplishes most of the same things it does without tanking your endurance. You can also get mezz protection from the Psi app if that is critical to you (altho not till the 40s). Force Field, while offering fewer debuffs, offers MUCH better IO potential, including the ability to soft cap to multiple damage types and easy +Recharge.

Whatever you do, avoid pairing Sonic with Ice Control unless you just want bragging rights for the most endurance unfriendly combo possible. I have a Fire/Sonic who showed promise for a while but I absolutely hate playing now, again due to endurance, but at least he can kill things (kind of). Getting him to the alphas would partially fix him, but his problems are really that Sonic is excessively punishing, borrowing endurance rates from Radiation Emission without a concurrent endurance bonus.

BTW, in my experience, Sonic is a near total fail at keeping pets alive. That extra resistance seems to me to mean the pet can take one or two extra hits before biting it [EDIT: Exception being the Earth pet due to its innate high resistance]. It's basically as if you were a Thermal who never bothered to heal them. My Fire/Sonic ended up with Aid Other and Aid Self just because he and the pets take so much damage it's unreal. You may find you like it, but I didn't.

Last I checked "Crossbow Volt" wasn't taken on a few servers.

"Frosty the Bowman" isn't exactly cool, and most likely taken, but you could check. Sometime ago "Shiver Quiver" showed up on my list of name possibilities.

Rhyme words could produce some very strange costume options. "Cupid's Pharaoh" for example.

In terms of colors, at least some of the following are probably still open:
- Golden
- Silver
- Jade
- Cyan
- Magenta
- Ivory
- Indigo
- Violet

Of these, the word "Violet" is semi-frequently conflated with "Violent," as in "Violet Offender." Silver and Sliver are sometimes rolled together. The "Golden Archer" has some rather funny connotations alongside a certain fast food chain's branding.

Meta names that play on concept could be "CMYK Arrow" and "RGB Arrow." These are names of color spaces used by "color technicians" in the electronic art world. I call these "metas" because they could be used to describe a character in your exact situation; wanted to stand in the tradition of a "colored archer" but all the good ones were already taken, so he picked them all.

If you wanted to play it for humor, you could pick an ultra specific color. For example "Cadmium Red M. Archer" could be the name of an OCD painter (Cadmium Red Medium being the name of a specific color of acrylic and oil paint).

I for one fully expect either level 55 and over enemies in our future, or some variation with equivalent buffs, debuffs, and damage.

I'm not sure if any combo of power sets has ever really surprised me. I see a few repeats but for the most part people seem willing to experiment.

I have a Mind/Cold Controller. I know of one other one out there because of the boards, but never seen one in the game. There are probably a few hanging out there, although Illusion/Cold outnumbers this combo about 50 to 1.

Ice/Thermal troller was my first 50. There are a couple of these around. Very unusual combo in terms of playstyle.

Ice/Rad Controller isn't exactly the rarest combo, but it plays completely unlikely anything else in this game... or any game.

A little off topic: Force Field deserves to be buffed. However it does have a specific edge in a few areas:

- FF shields provide endurance drain resistance (encountered vs: Carnies, Hellions, Clockwork, Freakshow, the Cabal, Malta)
- They also provide Toxic resistance
- FF shields can be Power Boosted and Cold's cannot
- Unlike Arctic Fog, Dispersion Bubble provides protection to everything, not just melee/range/AoE, so it is much easier to IO a Force Fielder to absurd defense levels, even versus exotic defense types like Psionics

There are other, smaller things like the fact that Repulsion Field cannot miss and does not cause movement suppression. On a team it's not the best but solo it can be abused rather gloriously, particularly by Mind and Illusion trollers. The trick is to run at the enemy instead of waiting for them to come to you. Enemies are too stupid to queue attacks so when you close distance quickly they go flying without being able to strike back. Arachnos, in particular, have mobs vulnerable to this, because they lack knockback protection but have tons of status protection. At least 2 of the 4 elite bosses in the alpha arc are also vulnerable to this trick.

Beyond that, FF really needs to have to defense debuff added to its shields and a few other small tweaks done. The set is excellent team support on the path from 1 to about 45 but isn't a great choice for extreme end game. Meanwhile, Cold, IMO, sucks prior to about level 40. I don't actually consider my Cold Controller a decent replacement for Force Field, because I skimped seriously on shields due to overall build needs. Exemped under 40, I don't consider him a replacement for much of anybody. But he does clean house rather nicely at 50.

First of all, thank you to the developers for asking for our opinions on this subject. As you can see, a lot of people feel strongly about teaming vs soloing.

I am a teamer. I became hooked on CoH for reasons that are exactly the opposite of some comments I see here: because the teaming here beats any other game. I get bored very quickly when playing solo. My entertainment comes from grouping with random people, and finding that our abilities, combined in any number of different ways, make it easy to beat down huge numbers of foes. I like being able to do this in as varied a context as possible; running the ITF 100 times is not appealing to me. I also don't play for, or particularly want, a difficult "challenge." I prefer "thrills." These concepts overlap, but are not the same to me. For example, I do not usually enjoy AV fights in this game, because while they are sometimes challenging, I do not find them thrilling. From my perspective perhaps the most positive change this game has ever made was the addition of "super side kicking" to facilitate earning experience at any level with any team. This change was genius, and is not only the best thing in CoH to me, it's one of the most progressive changes in the history of MMOs.

However, recent changes to the game have pushed me much more in the direction of playing a soloist. I don't feel "forced" per se, but I feel heavily pushed in that direction in order to advance. Making money as a team player is a challenge unless you run a few pieces of content over and over. But the biggest change has come from Praetoria, which split the playerbase, and, ironically, the Apex and Tin Mage Task Forces, which require you to recruit within a very narrow band of characters. These changes to some extent essentially undo the progress that super side kicking made. The other factor is alignment missions, which have further split groups.

It is important to note that in addition to what is explicit about a teaming system, what is implicit is also important. The explicit facts about teaming are there are large numbers of people who want to do it. What is implicit is that finding these people is often more challenging than it could be, that "a team" a person could join is not the same as there being multiple freely available groups running, and that the infrastructure surrounding teaming is simultaneously top notch and frustrating.

Perhaps the most obvious, but often ignored, implication of teaming is that the greater the number of people who want to do it, and the more their goals overlap, the bigger the feedback loop and the better the experience for all people who like to team. The alignment system and Praetoria drove a distinctive wedge through the core of the teaming game. By adding more options, ironically the system became less useful to teamers, because the game previously made no assumptions about motivations.

It may seem strange to some people that I would rather not play than solo, but that is essentially the case. To the extent that I do solo content, it is mostly because a team is not available. You might think that I would have developed an extensive list of contacts who also like to team, but that is really not the case. The reason is that, strangely, the thrill for me comes from meeting up with a bunch of new people over and over. There is something about playing with the same team all the time that feels like I'm retrogressed to soloing stuff. But the other factor there is implicit again: if you end up in a duo or trio, the way mechanics work make it harder rather than easier to be recruited to a larger team.

Of course, you can recruit people yourself. But I don't like to do that either. At this point some may think I'm a hypocrite, but there's more to it. I am a follower. I do not like playing leader, and anecdotal evidence from teams I've been on indicates the same is true for a lot of people. I like being in an environment where there are so many open calls for teams that I can join anyone and not have to think about leading one.

To further lump on the contradictions, I'm not particularly interested in an incredibly difficult end game. I like cooperative play where essentially the challenges validate the usefulness of every powerset choice. For example, content that is not so easy that Defenders and Controllers become useless to Scrappers, but not so dependant on bringing a Defender or Controller that the melees become useless. This is a very difficult design to achieve, but IMO this game comes as close to it as any I've played. The only ATs I have reservations about are Stalkers, mostly because I feel that as "assassins" they don't bring the debuffs they should to single target AV fights.

I do like that people who like to solo have their own content, but I also think they implicitly own a lot more of the game than they think they do. I would like for them to have the ability to achieve end-game goals, but the method in which that is done needs to be careful. If it results in something like the alignment missions, I'm very wary of it just because I already feel pushed with a heavy hand to do those solo. I don't know if its possible to please everyone here--especially not wavering, likes-to-team-but-not-lead-wants-thrilling-but-not-difficult people like me. But given the successes this development team has had in the past, I think that if any group is up to the challenge, it's this one.

In the meantime, one specific thing you could do that would make people like me insanely happy would be a server-wide teaming chat channel. I'm not sure if you're aware that we've all been piling onto "global channels" that only people in the know access, and which fills up eventually. The first time I unsubscribed to this game, it was because I spent 3 weeks standing on a hill in Talos Island looking for a team and being unable to find one, because I didn't know about this chat system.