PoptartsNinja

I vaguely recall one of the devs hinting that the power in the 'natural' costume pack could possibly be 'walking' (I'm hoping for 'strolling' or 'meandering' myself).

I can see it now. Stegosaurus Illusionists! Freak Tank Velociraptors! Statesrannosaurus Rex! Nemesis Brachiosaurus Automatons! Fortunata Triceratops!

This plan can't fail!

For a new player, I'd suggest Stone Melee / Electric Armor over Super Strength. Super Strength both benefits and suffers from Rage (which boosts your damage greatly, but also reduces it to near zero for a short time after it wears off).

Stone Melee is an early blooming, brutally powerful set with enough soft control that Electric Armor's weaknesses are minimized. Plus, there's something fun about knocking your enemy on his rump every time you hit him. ^_^

3 crab spiders, 2 night widows, 2 fortunatas, 1 bane spider (and a partridge in a pear tree)

The choice depends, ultimately, on what you'd like to play. All three ATs have significant differences; and beyond that, every powerset within each set plays significantly differently.

Here's a (very) general breakdown:
Stalkers: Stalkers allow you to choose your fights carefully. If you like positioning yourself carefully and attacking from a position of advantage, Stalkers are for you. They benefit the most from defense sets, tend to hit hard with up-front damage and benefit from an improved critical rate on a team, while still being solo-capable. Good Stalker sets to try: Anything/Ninjutsu

Scrappers: Scrappers allow you to take on nearly any challenge in the game with a reasonable chance for success. They hit hard right out the gate, are reasonably survivable, and don't ever really need a team (but can benefit from one). Good scrapper sets to try: Broadsword/Anything, Fire/Fire, Anything/Willpower

Brutes: Brutes are like scrappers with the potential for greater survivability, and access to the very respectable tank attack sets. They start slow, but ramp up quickly in combat, and with team support, they're more survivable then a scrapper (they share the same resistance caps as a tank, but naturally have only scrapper-level defenses) while doing only marginally less damage then scrappers at their 850% damage cap. They have access to some brutally fun sets, and the fury mechanic is a blast if you like smashing things. Good brute sets to try: Stone Melee/Electric Armor, Super Strength/Fire Armor, Anything/Willpower. In i16, Claws should also be very, very fun.

Electricity Blast is an overall anemic set that needs some help: It seems designed to soft control, and can theoretically drain mobs of endurance, but it can't drain any mobs that actually matter leaving the player reliant on weaker-then-normal damage. Swapping out the end drain (and completely unnoticed end-steal) for powers which force mobs to take a high priority, attack-preventing "oh noes, I'm being shocked!" animation for a quarter-second or so (akin to the "I'm throwing up" animation from /traps, but with a much shorter duration) would possibly be of much greater benefit to the set.

Forcefields, having no actual debuffs, mediocre soft control (admittedly improved now that repulsion bomb does knockdown), and redundant (or maligned) control effects renders it of little benefit most of the time. Changing detention field from a single-target phase shift to a single-target debuff to enemy damage would make the set worlds better. Dumping Repulsion Field (which is redundant thanks to the far-superior Force Bubble) in exchange for, in order of usefulness: A -regen or -resist debuff, a -rech debuff, or a -def debuff (or an area -damage debuff) would make the set far more viable both solo and in a team support role.

A simpler alternative:

Whenever a character below a certain level (say 10, 20, and 30) is sidekicked, they gain a temp power version of some powers they'd already have access to.

So, for example, if a level 8 character were sidekicked up to level 22, he'd pass both the 10 and 20 mark and gain access to two extra powers; while if he was sidekicked up to level 45 he'd gain access to all three.

Level 10: Temp Power access to the normal Tier 6 Primary power (normally available at level 12)
Level 20: Temp power access to the normal Tier 6 Secondary power (normally available at level 20)
Level 30: Temporary access to the normal Tier 8 Primary power (normally available at level 28)

The players would start the game with access to these temporary powers, but the powers are unusable unless they're sidekicked past the viable level. Additionally, on leveling up to level 10, 20, and 30, these powers would be automatically removed from their power list and no longer accessible.

This would have to be tweaked a bit for each set, but would seem to be a simpler way to fulfill the original goal of the OP (after all, if a tanker sidekicks a blaster--why would that blaster have access to any of the tank's attack or defense powers?)

What did the Tank say to the Freakshow?

/e Taunt1

Stone Melee / Electric Armor is very, very survivable.

Claws lacks soft control, so you'll likely be better off with something else. Like Willpower, or Dark Armor, or (lol) Energy Aura. >_>

Force Field / Electricity defender.

Not only is there no synergy, but forcefields is a tedious set to play that in no way aids Electricity's anemic damage potential. This was faaaaar worse back before they fixed Repulsion Bomb, and is still an absolutely awful combination.

I very rarely have worse then minor stuttering when loading at even the most crowded black market / wentworths. If you're having difficulty, you may want to consider upgrading your RAM (2 GB is great), turning down your particle effects in the options menu, or otherwise adjusting your graphical options so that they don't put such a huge strain on your system.

While it would be nice to see an improvement in the BM's efficiency, they're hardly the crash-inducing nightmare you seem to imply.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm glad you guys are enjoying this!
I have never seen or heard a single MST3K in my life, though, so I'm afraid the resemblance is unintentional.

...

I'm missing out on a lot, aren't I?

[/ QUOTE ]

You really are.

... search Youtube for "Prince of Space MST3K" or "Space Mutiny MST3K". Those are two of the best, and you'll probably turn up quite a few clips that'll give you some idea of what MST3K is about. ^_^

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"REX DART : Eskimo Spy!"
"Oh, How I loathe you."
"<grumble><Grumble> ...hate these stairs...stupid stairs"
"Hey! It's Oscar Wilde."

I am so glad they started Rifftrax. Not as good as MST3K but they do take the stuffing out of big-budget movies now .

[/ QUOTE ]

If you get the chance, check out the Rifftrax for Running Man. It's not done by Mike and the Boys, but it's still absolutely amazing. ^_^

Also, "Allow me to reference my previous contention that your weapons against me are without merit!"

Well, if you'd like to give one of mine a shot, could you give Wretch's 'Trike Force (Arc ID: 249890 ) a go? I think you'd get a kick out of the writing. ^_^

There is about one elite boss enemy per mission, though, so you may want to play on challenge rating 1 if you're not confident in your ability to defeat an elite boss.

Just played your 'Axis and Allies' arc, it was very well done. If you get the chance, any chance you could give my arc Wretch's 'Trike Force (Yes, the dreaded WTF ) a try? The Arc ID is 249890

Review pulled per request.

The Arc in question is well worth playing, and I don't want anyone to think that my review suggested otherwise.

They also hate standing still in one place all day . I mean, sometimes they've just gotta stretch out.

Also, Castle, I noticed a distinctive lack of pie on your list of likes! That can't be possible--unless you really are Nemesis!

Becky, Tarantula Mistress: Single Female like, totally searching for true love at last! Like, y'gotta be cute and stuff, with good fashion sense. Not like that that time I went out with that 'Scirocco' guy, he was, like, totally groady to the max! I enjoy, like, long walks on the beach and shopping--like, you'll totally earn your way into my heart if you help me find a dress that fits and looks, like, totally cute on me!

While we're at it, how about carpeted floors?

Battleaxe already does everything that Broadsword would do for Brutes, but better. I'm not against it proliferating, but honestly Claws does add something new to brutes (a very fast attacking powerset with a couple of decent heavy hitters).

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Wait... people actually play and some even enjoy redside? Wow... That's just... Whoa.... News to me...

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I rather enjoy redside. There're some starkly beautiful places in the Rogue Isles, if you know where to look.

Shiny metallic Arbiter costumes for my VEATs

Reorganization of blueside missions so that cellphones are earned BEFORE they start sending you to every other zone in the game.