Radubadu

I just hit 26 with my WP/SS tanker and I've noticed a couple things I wanted to get clarification on.

From the guides I've read the WP taunt aura is subsantially weaker in terms of holding aggro so to compensate I've got two taunt IOs in it which seems to help a bit. However, at times when playing with an overzealous blaster or scrapper it doesn't seem to matter as much so I taunt as often as possible and notice that even then at times I may lose aggro to a small group of mobs if we're taking on every mob in a large room so I wonder if it's worth slotting a couple recharge reduction IOs in taunt?

Also, a lot of people seem to dislike Hand Clap, I've not taken it yet but it seems to me that it would be a good power since it disorients and essentially taunts in an AoE so I assume that while knockback is a pain for scrappers would this not be good for holding aggro since in theory after the disorient effect wears off the mobs are going to run back to me?

Ultimately I really enjoy tanking but there are times where no matter what I do I can't seem to hold aggro and while it's usually due to someone not really letting me "establish" it first I still feel like I'm doing something wrong.

It might just be that you have bad luck with the people you're teaming with but I've NEVER seen anyone say anything like that on Virtue. I can't really speak for other servers as most of my toons and all the ones I play regularly are on Virtue.

I will say however that while what they said was ignorant and stupid, honestly your reaction is a bit childish. If someone is giving you crap about your build they probably just aren't worth playing with at all but you reacting the way you did and basically allowing them to die when you could've helped is no better. I hate this saying but it fits here... two wrongs don't make a right. Next time just thank them for the team, quit and be done with it then when they die they can silently rethink their opinion of whatever build you're running.

Remember, first and foremost this is a game... the instant someone is causing you not to have fun just stop playing with them because no offense while they are ignorant, doing what you did makes you look like the jerk in this case.

Welcome to the game Longhorn! As a former WoW vet myself I'm going to reiterate and point out a few things...

As stated before this game is HEAVILY instanced based that's why you won't see too many people around even on a highly populated server because they're running around through instances which make up about 85% or more of the game. Also, these are not the kind of instances you'd be used to from wow. Remember seeing "LF3M for SFK" etc? You won't have that here, people will be looking for teams and more members but it's never necessary to have a full team and it's not an issue if someone randomly drops, dcs or has to logoff due to rl issues.

Another thing to keep in mind and I guess incentive to keep playing is that this is nothing like other mmos... yea you can team up and grind up to lvl 50 as fast as possible but as you will read many times and be told by anyone who's played for a while this game is about the journey, not the destination. I have a friend with 13 lvl 50s for that reason... I myself don't even have one because I actually enjoy playing the game without rushing through it whereas in WoW and most other mmos it's all about grinding to max lvl, which sucks then actually getting to play the game.

One last thing I would suggest also is check out the server forums and try to find the one that you will like the most... I play almost exclusively on Virtue which is considered the unofficialy rp server... I do not rp but playing on a team with even one person that does makes it a very unique experience as opposed to just "run through and get as much xp as possible".

In regards to what Father Xmas said about not rushing to 50, don't take that to mean there's no "endgame". The first time I was told that I was very concerned with "endgame" material because having also played other MMOs (mainly FFXI and WoW) I just remember grinding to max lvl to actually get to the "real" game. In CoH one thing that I think sets it apart immediately from the others is that lvling is actually an enjoyable experience which is why you have people with numerous lvl 50 toons. I have a friend with a few (I think 13) 50s and from what I've seen there's plenty to do at 50 but the bulk of the game as with any MMO is lvling it's just that again, it's enjoyable here.

I would love to comment on what specifically can be done at 50 but to further exemplify how awesome just lvling is my highest lvl toon is only 33 becuase I can't stop making other new ones to play around with which is another thing... give in to altoholism. You will see that word a lot I have yet to meet anyone in game, in real life or on these forums that doesn't have at LEAST 5 toons. So try out different ATs and even several different power set combos of the same one, I have 3 blasters that I actually play and they all play very differently.

One last thing, someone earlier mentioned teaming is better than soloing which I want to reiterate. Aside from learning about other ATs and how the one you happen to be playing functions on a team and getting more xp... it's just more fun, never forget what the second "M" in MMO means. You will occasionally get into a team that might not be the best you've ever played with, but for the number of teams I've been on, I have yet to run into a situation like in other games (FFXI especially) where there's a wipe and 2 or more people start bickering over who's fault it was.

Welcome to the game!

Adding to what Lady Arete said (awesome Alladin reference btw) about being a glass cannon, this can be said for all blasters but especially fire/fire. Your only real mitigation is killing the bad guy before they get to you. Sure, you get fire cage or whatever it's called and it is useful at times but played properly you'll never really need it.

I'm not the best person to comment on a specific build as I usually look at guides and then still kinda do my own thing but a couple notes on the play style...

On a team just make sure you let your tank get aggro before you start firing away, typically all this really takes is for them to taunt once and on a good enough team the baddies will be down before you really have their attention.

Soloing is an entirely different story of course. You can try to take one mob at a time but it's slow, boring and almost impossible with how tightly packed most are on a mission map. The biggest trick there is picking which targets to take down in what order. My personal take on this is to AOE the crap out of everything then pick off the minions first leaving lts and bosses for last. Some might thing "but the boss hits harder" which is true... but when you think about how long it will take to kill the boss if you focus on them first you then have 4-5 of his friends beating the crap out of you while you're munching on every insp you have.

Just my $0.02

Thanks to both of you, I think I understand, at least better than I did... one other question then, is it even worth worrying about before lvl 50? My initial impression tells me no but I'm sure I could be wrong.

I understand slotting to a point but I still feel very ignorant overall. Specifically regading IOs and sets etc...

So "regular" IOs that only enhance one attribute start to lose there luster if you slot more than three because diminishing returns kick in... I understand that...

But what makes sets different besides the set bonuses? I've seen some people's builds that have say, 4 damage but 2 of those cover acc and the other 2 cover end reduction... is the damage "portion" not affected by the same diminishing returns that nonset IOs are?

I'm not even sure if I'm asking this right but it makes sense in my head lol

One I forgot to mention that my girlfriend and I play is two fire blasters... we're both obviously very squishy... but it's not usually a problem as everything is usually dead before they notice we're burning them down.

Not exactly a safe duo... but tons of fun!

I'm very much new to tanking and still the game in general (just got my 6 month badge woot!) however I'm a huge fan of SS but I'm a "HULK SMASH!" kind of player so I'm kinda biased I guess... I'll even be taking hand clap at some point which most people seem to not like (from what I've read) but it's very much a Hulkish power and I like it!

My highest lvl toon is 32 and I'm wondering when people talk about farming how and where they do it. In every MMO I've played prior to CoH farming consisted of killing the same type or types of mobs over and over for specific drops and selling them on the auction house. It definitely seems to be a different concept in CoX and while I'm not hurting for cash I want to start making more for my other toons, specifically my tank who's costing me more and more as I'm making it a point to make sure he has the best enhancements he can at every lvl.

Also in regards to "financing" other toons, I'm curious as to why we can't send influence to another toon of ours... I assume the inability to send cash or assets is to try to keep buying influence for real world cash at a minimum but if it's from one of my toons to another one I don't see the problem.

fire/fire

Being an altoholic I have more blasters than any other AT and fire/fire is my favorite for the simple fact that they (IMO) represent what a blaster truly should be... their only real mitigation is killing the bad guy before they get to you.

I do however really enjoy my AR/EM blaster. Lots of fun toys with that in terms of screwing with the bad guys... a lot of the attacks have a knock down effect and if one gets to close the EM attacks have knock back to put distance between you and them again.

My girlfriend and I have a few duos that we run together, when I'm on my WP/SS tank she'll grab her Claws/Regen scrapper and we mow through everything... well she does... I stand there and look stupid whilst getting hit over and over. Another one we have fun with is my fire/rad controller and her assault rifles/devices blaster... we're both kinda squishy but stuff is usually either held or dead before it can even touch us.

My fire/fire blaster just hit 32 and I have a question about slotting. I know nothing about IO sets or any of that for the most part but currently all of my powers that are six slotted have 3 damage 2 accuracy and 1 recharge reduction. Is that much accuracy unnecessary? If not I'd love to slot another recharge reduction or end reduction but don't want to spend the inf to find out I made a mistake.