OhGodtheRats

Awesome as always, Rachcake.

Will the same design be on the wedding cake?
-jared

Holy [censored], so good to know the trapping still continues to roll onward.
oh and Congrats! (You know who you are)
-Jared

Sorry for the delay...every other month my account expires, CoV thinks I'm a fraud when I try to pay online, and I end up having a couple weeks of forced gaming vacation. Now that I'm active again, I can post on the forum...
With this:
Fallen Comet (sort of)

Glad you guys like it. I'm having a [female dog] of time with Fallen Comet, but I'll have a few more up fairly soon. I'm going to only do a few more of these before CoH obsession guilt kicks in, so if you want to see your character, drop me a line like....now.
-jared

Oh and on the tangent of my website, glad you like it. It pays my rent every other month or so, which isn't that bad really. Don't overlook this particular article... I've posted a link to it before, but I find it very hilarious to read now that I've been playing the game for just under a year since it was written.
The City of Villains review from yesteryear
I particularly find my complaints about the veteran rewards system rather newbian in hilarity.

My only complaint with the Force Field powersets is invariably I'm the most damaged one on the team. :P

Totally see where you're coming from. I'm planning on grabbing both, but from experience on Villains I know that if you have Force Bubble teaming with folks who need melee range means not using it as often as you'd like. With the Repulsion (KNockback aura) Shield, I can be subtle in providing a safe spot for the blasters to...err...blast from. As long as I don't charge in, the melee toons have very little to complain about. Then again, if your whole team is ranged, NOTHING beats Force Bubble.
Now that I'm building a Force Field toon on Heroes, I'm sort of dreading getting Force Bubble. Just a little. There are so many people who literally will abandon a team if it doesn't have a tanker and since Force Bubble sorta screws with the whole herding process....don't know. Should be interesting finding a place for it in those stereotypical teams that show up from time to time.
-Jared

A handful of requests, fulfilled:

Click here for Lord Darvek

Click here for Hell Wolf (i think)

Click Here for The Blind Girl

Huzzah!
-Jared

A very quick Statesmans based off my 1st sketch that I don't like very much now that I upload it:
Click Here To See

I'll definitely have to paint up the zombie Statesman pic...when I was doodling his helmet for a moment I though the red on the back of his head was his exposed braincase...and ran with it. More requested stuff up soon.
-jared

If you only snag one of the knockback Forcefield powers, I'd suggest the knockback aura. I have it running when I team 100% of the time and it's like providing a "safe zone" for the blaster who's trying to get away from the melee mob that he's [censored] off. I haven't been hit by a melee attack since level 18 since I picked it up and when you have a decent amount of ranged folks on the team, it's a great way of keeping the enemy from engaging.
Just my 2 cents. Force Bolt is fun, but the Aura is freaking useful. Just don't charge in with it on or the tanker will beat you silly for it.
-jared

Vahiki request fulfilled. Huzzah.

What it is:
In Game Madness

What I saw:
Vahiki fun with Watercolour

Oh man, I've got a level 26 Forcefields/Dark but I can't give any advice...you obviously aren't into the other half of the Forcefields primary, which was the part I was focusing on. Of course, accuracy debuffs don't stack with knockback, so for synergy it makes sense. Then again, ignoring half of your primary lets you freaking super-focus on pool stuff, which is pretty cool...lord knows there have been times when I wished I had more of the Medicine set.
-jared

On the topic of just plain fun builds, the only melee toon I've been able to have fun with (besides my freaky Melee Dom and Melee Mastermind) is my Dark/Dark level 38 Brute. Neither are particularly the best in PvE or PVP (I am a delicate flower when confronted by PVP regulars) but it's always interesting. The main advantages are thusly: 1: You have to outheal your enemies to stay alive. With a couple of life-draining attacks in your arsenal, you'll need them to come back from the brink of death, most likely a couple of times while playing in a particularly mission. But it does keep things interesting. The other thing is that Dark/Dark is the only Mez-crazy brute option I've seen. While I have to have stamina and a lot of recovery IO bonuses to keep everything running, the fact that enemies get hit by fear and stun by just standing next to me is a blast and stupid-useful when teaming. All your hits debuff enemy accuracy (as well as one of the auras) and your level 32 attack is an immobilization on top of everything. Bah, check out the wiki, but I totally recommend it for quirky fun as well.
-jared

Alright, I'll take that challenge. But I think my Statesman is going to be....less than stately. Call it a hunch.

On a side note, "Dark Judges"?
....runs off to google image search....

Holy [censored]. While I didn't know who those guys were until, well, about 45 seconds ago, they DO seem freaking familiar. That is, if you were referring to the Judge Dread folks. Which now that I look at them, are something that I have to paint now. They just...fit.
-Jared

PS: I'm on a request kick at the moment, so if anyone wants me to paint something of theirs (character, most likely) drop me a line...and don't worry about an infamy bribe. I do these for friends and fun. Post an image here or send me a PM and it'll be done within the week. (Hopefully)

Hola! A friend of mine on Union bribed me into painting them Recluse as weirdly as I...usually would have. Since I hate keeping Art secret, I figured I'd share.
Click Here for a Weird Watercolor Archvillain
Hope you like it...Lord knows its been forever since I've done CoV art.
-Jared

I know that in the last issue they gave a big boost of damage to the Archery set before Defiance 2.0 came out. How does new Archery compare to the other primaries?

I ask because I've got an Archey/Ice and even just the basic attacks are enough to one-two shot a Lit when build-up or Aim is rolling. And a boss? Usually 3, unless he's purple or something.

I think I bring this up because my strategy when being PVE is NOT aggro'ing the entire planet until someone else has at least some of the mobs attention. Massive single target damage (Blazing Arrow, Aimed Shot +BU/AIM) is enough for me, as my secondary is pretty good at keeping other enemies off my back. Ice Patch/Chilling Embrace/Shiver...all these things let me stay the [censored] out of combat unless I want to be.

God, I'm pimping my build. I just think that the Fire blasters can be a different kind of beast...I've teamed with them and if the Fireball-Rain of Fire-Firebreath combo doesn't finish off the guys before they get that retaliation attack of doom, you're going to be eating carpet fairly regularly. Seen it happen a LOT. Then again, if you're solo, you're most likely going to have to deal with that aggro anyway. But, being solo, it'll be a lot fewer enemies firing at you. Food for thought.

Wait..you can use the low level powers from your secondary as well? I totally thought it was only your primary. (Archery/Ice here....and yeah, a sleep Ice Patch drop would just be golden chunks of cheatery.)

I think I read that it's only affected by your primary.

On a side note, the "attack while mezzed" thing is cool but graphically....weird.
Whenever I'm put to sleep it "seems" I'm vomiting up arrows at my enemies. Because the normal animation of the attack isn't there. I'm sure I'll get used to it but oh my, I do hope that's temporary.

To be fair, the FF/Dark defender I rolled the other day is meant to be a knockback psycho. There are just too many powers in Force Fields to ignore that aspect of the set. Seriously, the set breaks down like this:

Pure Defense: Deflection Shield, Insulation Shield, Dispersion Bubble

Knockback/Repel powers: Force Bolt, Repulsion Field, Repulsion Bomb, Force Bubble

Other: Detention Field

There are more powers in the set but look at it like this. Less than Half your powers are for pure defense. Most of your powers are all about knocking enemies all over the place. If you're smart about it, people won't complain about your knockbackery. The only time I've been on a team when the issue's come up (with another knockback toon) was when the team was being lead by someone who thinks you can't do a mission if the tank doesn't herd everyone for the entire fight...and would rather people faceplant than have the mob knockbacked. Craziness. This happened once along the way to level 25...and only once. Just don't spam your knockback and you'll be fine.
(The later Knockback powers are more "oh [censored]" buttons, but they look to be pretty good at keeping enemies away from your squishy friends. Just don't Repulse-Bomb the Tank.

As for Dark, just remember that an enemy hit with the -ACC is the equivalent of whoever it is attacking having 2/3rds more Defense provided by your buff shield. It only lasts for 10 seconds, but with DBlast and Gloom cycling, that's a whole extra shield (and then some) being effectively made in regard to one enemy. And more, if you start stacking the 2 or 3 cones you can have by level 28. Classy.

Here's my build. Notice I did NOT get deflection shield early on. My toon is a range monkey and the team I have it build for is also mostly range...it's a concept thing. Snagging Deflection Shield early on is probably the smart thing to do. Lord knows I haven't had much use for PFF...though when I have needed it it's been awesome.

1. Personal Force Field, Dark Blast
2. Gloom
4. Force Bolt
6 Insulation Field
8. Hover
10. Sprint
12. Dispersion Bubble
14. Health
16. Tentacles of Hentai Darkness
(Remember, this Immobilization does not give the enemy knockback protection, unlike most varieties)
18. Repulse-Aura
20. Stamina
22.Manuevers
24. Deflection Shield
26. Repulse Bomb
28 Torrent (low damage, but more -ACC and Knockback fun)
30. Flight (I can get temp travel power to last about this long. If you can't, snag your travel when I snagged Manuevers.)
32. Force Bubble.
35+ Meh. No clue...neither of the upper Dark Powers speak to me. Maybe Detention for Sappers which I'll have to be dealing with at about this point? Then again, getting that Dark Cone I missed might be good for stacking -ACC. No clue. This is in the far future, so I can only guess.

Hope that helps. I'm sure I'll tweak that as I level it, but that was the plan going in.
-Jared

By the by, I found this guide to be super helpful in convincing me I wanted to play a FF Defender.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...Number=4222659

Damn it to poop. About 5 minutes after I found out I'd be able to make it and posted here on the forum, a certain lovely woman decided to do something with our RAM as a surprise. The surprise ended up being it broke our computer. So we spent the night reinstalling Windows and me figuring out how to reinstall/redownload my CoV. So, hope you guys had fun and I'll let you know when I'm back.
-Jared

See you tonight guys! Huzzah!
-Jared

I think he meant the opposite...it's not totally rare I mean. Your build is actually kinda close to my melee brawling Grav/Energy dominator.

If I were you, I'd actually take Mesmerize over Levitate...being a Melee Dom means that you want to be able to sleep/hold/Fear something so you can deal with the enemy you didn't sleep/hold/fear. I do a lot of switching targets and chances are your sleep will keep them from attacking you longer than Levitating them. Plus it's psi damage and not Smashing damage, which is always keen.

I'd also ditch the Maneuvers and just take Tough/Weave right after one another...Weave's payout is a lot better than Maneuvers and the earlier the better. The other change is that I would take Hasten-Super SPeed instead of the Jumping pool...Acrobatics would be nice but since you're not getting it until...forever, the hasten will help you get Domination back faster. Which is vital to a melee toggle-using Dom. And getting Whirlwind, while not the greatest power, is always a good melee panic button..particularly now that it takes Chance for Damage IO's.
Of course, that's just my 2 cents.
-Jared

It's a shame Energy Aura is out of the running. I made a DB/Fire Brute (RP concept, not sure how a build is only good for farming anyway) and immediately regretted it after chatting with another DB/EnergyAura and doing a little research. It seems that the Weaken Combo stacks really well with a Defense based toon...has anyone on test seen a combo for DB in regard to this? Energy Aura might be for Brutes, but I guess experience with a stalker /ninjistu/SR would be totally appropriate in regards to an answer.

Here is where I confess I own the Dolemite: Human Tornado series. Those movies are awesome. And so very wrong.

And dear Lord, as someone who's made multiple black toons for a couple of obvious (to some) reasons, this thread makes me want to make an SG called "White Honkies Unlimited" with a hillbilly toon named Whitebread. You know, for the sake of balance. : )
-Jared

Very cool...and look forward to the less insane sequel.

Was really interesting seeing the amazingly brain-exploding costumes next to some classics. Though don't forget to post the winners...I think not knowing who won was the only sour note. Well, and siting next to Far Seer and the Super Baby. But that was sour awesome.
-jared
(Bumblegrave, that blue wolfthing in a scarf)

Thanks for the advice. Got up to level 7 last night, so methinks I'll be snagging something besides Salt Crystals in a few bars...like Hasten. I'll also most likely snag stamina as you say, just wasn't sure if Accelerated Metabolism was helpful in that regard. My Mind/Psy Dom did just fine Stamina-free to where he sits at level 37, but without the Domination inherent and not being sure how Drain Psyche compares to AM, Stamina's probably a good bet.

Oh and False, you're totally right, I totally misused the word synergy. I think I just meant "overkill". All the Earth power basics give a -20% defense buff...combined with the 1st Rad Toggle means anything that gets hit has a nice -45% Debuff that's only going to get worse as things stack.
Quicksand & Lingering Radiation both look to do the same thing so I'm expecting them to grind things to a halt...and Volcanic Gases & Choking Cloud do similar things....
Yeah, you're description sounds about right. No synergy, just lots of ranged control.

Thanks again guys and if anyone can vouch for Accelerated Metabolism or not, let me know. Lord knows I don't have the slots to waste if it's a lost cause.
-jared