Shatterghost

OK, lvl 13 and finally got the chance to solo a bit (1-12 was DFB)

Early levels may be a pain endurance wise, but dayum the combo kicks butt, it plays faster than I expected. My current strategy is to stand about 60' away from baddies, cast whirlpool on self, and fire off two other TF builders then water burst. It's turning out to be a very effective combo, only needing you to clean up stray survivors afterwards. Later the aoe potential should only get better.

But ya, endurance reduction, slot it.

I have a lvl 12 WB/Dark and I forsee her being a AoE blapper queen in later levels.

Whirlpool+Soul drain+Soul consumption+Tidal forces+water burst+Geyser(if they're even still alive) then dark melee the s*** out of the rest still standing.

Not to mention high survivability with the upcoming change to touch of fear(regen/recovery buff), then dehydrate (a damage/heal) and soul consumption(+end). I don't see it being bad at all.

SPOILERS -ish

My only problem with the season so far is that it seems like there are too many major storylines going on:

-The Tara vampire thing
-The Authority (This and Tara are really competing for the title of main plot of the season, despite ads suggesting the Authority is)
-Terry and Patrick
-Jessica, Steve, and Jason
-Sam, Luna, and the were's
-And Russell Edgington, but it looks like they've already made that part of the Authority plotline.

In the future I see a few things happening:

-Luna's gonna get killed. Emma's the new packmaster, being advised and taken care of by grandma Bozeman.
-Sookie and LaFayette will try to glue together a now broken relationship with Tara.
-Tara will become a bad guy, something they toyed with in S4. Or get killed by someone or herself (I'm leaning toward suicide personally)
-Steve Newlin will become Edgington's new Talbot. re-finding love will move Russell to not repeat his schemes that led to him losing Talbot, eventually running into the night with Steve.
-For some reason I cant shake the feeling that Pam's gonna get killed, hence the reveal of her background, creating an emotional investment so her death would be felt.
-Edgington will destroy the authority, Eric and Bill will either kill Edgington or let him go so status quo is reset in vampire-land.
-Fairies will make an appearance this season, toying around with things, but will be more a hint of their being the big bad of S6. and the Fairy sleeping with Andy in S4 was too random to not be something.
-Pam or Nan made Steve. First episode of S5 Pam said she turned someone before, but it didn't go well. Nan's comment to Jessica about becoming a maker in S4 was more of a jab than the truth. Also Nan would turn Newlin as a punishment for being a thorn in the side of her and the Authority. This combined with the fact that the entirety of S4 takes place within a week and a half, Nan had plenty of time to do it in the year between S3 and 4.

k, done dorking out.

I want to make another brute but I'm stuck.

The Good:
I'd like to know what powerset combos are awesome right out of the box and stay good till 50 and beyond, and are only made better with IOsets but can do well on only SO's and basic IO's.

The Bad:
I'd also like to know which combos either never work without heavy investment into IO's (plastic surgery), or combos that need to AEfarm for their only chance to display how good they are (having to hide in AE cause everything else kills you means you're not very good). Combos that suffer from constant endurance issues no matter what is done are not very good either.

The Uncommon:
Browsing the forums I never see threads about certain combos. I'd like to see you guys brag about how your characters' powerset choices are odd but end up pwning. Basically /fire and /wp no need apply, the rest of the brute forums already know about you

A Little Extra: I'm curious in particular to see if anyone has tried out an ElM/DA, Also is /EA good? last time I played it, it wasnt, but I've been seeing good things lately. Was it changed again? /INV also, over the years Ive seen threads saying its terrible, others say its amazing, what is it?

Yeah, Same thing happened in Steel earlier tonight. Thought it was intentional, but there's no way, those are REALLY BIG zombies.

Ferengi as a major player in the prime universe? I can actually see it happening

-The only thing Abrams' movie did in the prime universe is destroy Romulus, this can leave a power vacuum and a need for help the Ferengi could fill... for a price.
-Also the remnants of the Dominion War, having the Ferengi swoop in and begin a sort of business occupation of Cardassia after the shenanigans that went on there.
-With the Ferengi essentially in control of these two powerful governments, the Federation is starting to look a little small.

I work in a massive grocery store (H.E.B.) and we only have Halloween seasonal out, I don't see us starting to phase in Christmas until early to mid November. now as soon as December hits I'll be hearing Christmas carols over the store radio through the entire month and ill be sick of it.

BUT:
-Another store in the same company is already putting out Christmas and at least one of the local craft stores is doing Christmas now.
-I've also been told that the local Macy's is already putting up Christmas trees.

Overall ya, it's crazy. We could at least have a few weeks of Christmas/Thanksgiving, but it looks like corporate culture no longer celebrates thanksgiving.

I have a level 15 StJ/EA Brute and he rocks except for one thing, He has some fury breaking endurance issues likely caused by the armors at that level. Once I get energy drain and energize that'll be solved but until then I have stamina three slotted and endurance reducers in all of my powers.

P.S.: StJ gives me a seriously strong combination of SMASH and scrapperlock.

OMG, Now I just rolled 4 alts with the new sets, all under lv20 and you're saying DS9 is streaming????

Well now I know what the entirety of my free time is gonna be: watching DS9 or playing CoX

This is when I wish my Computer was in front of a TV, Multitasking FTW!

Loved that video. Incredibly difficult subject to approach without making it look creepy in a bad way, but I think they pulled it off though.

-TF2 was one of the best trailers ever leading into one of the most disappointing movies ever.
-TF3's trailer was pretty good and possibly better than the movie, the movie was better than 2, not as good as 1.
-Burn After Reading, but that's more an example of this
-Green Lantern, yeah... ... ...

-And I agree about Hellboy 2: nice trailer, boring movie.

Incarnate origins?

Soulsunder (DM/Regen scrapper) is the literal son of death so obviously he'd be death incarnate. He is still half human so his conscience prevents him from fulfilling all of Deaths duties (such as unfortunate accidents involving children, as a more tragic example) So he steals the souls from evildoers, leaving them nearly dead inside, but also giving them a chance to earn their souls back (Daddy doesn't like that, not. one. bit.)
-His Incarnate powers are simply an extension of his connection with Death

Limitshift (EM/WP Brute) is a Dimensional Hopper/Manipulator, who destroyed(?) his home dimension when his powers manifested. Later he merged two other dimensions when he lost control of his powers again after being hit my a trans-planar bomb. As the multi-planar nature of his powers leaves him immune to time and loosely tied to space, Limitshift will jump worlds and dimensions for the sake of knowing and seeing what is out there. This independence from normal existence has created a person entirely his own, free from the influences of "modern society" aside from the long ago memories of an alternate 1600's England. So, if I had to choose, Limitshift is an Incarnate of Curiosity or Independence.
-His Incarnate powers are the result of his greater understanding of the Multiverse

Those are my two 50's

Psychostatic (KM/Elec Scrapper) is a small man but gifted Psychic who can gather concentrated psychokinetic energy and bio electric fields generated by the nervous system around his immediate person, and use these energies to defend himself. He's currently only level 21 but if he gets to be lv50 I'd probably think of him as an Incarnate of the Collective Unconscious.
-His incarnate powers will deal with delving into and drawing out physical aspects of the collective unconscious

Ash Memories (Mind/Fire Dominator) is a man who worked for the circus, found his love, started a family, and literally woke up one morning to find it burned to ash. He thinks he did it during a nightmare (hint, he didn't) so he's depressed and destructive (hes currently redside, will eventually go blue). In time, depending on how you look at the character he'll either be an Incarnate of Sadness or Revenge.
-No external force, simply a more powerful telepath/pyrokinetic

Astroflux (Beam/Kin Corruptor who I absolutely love right now but that's for a whole 'nother thread) Will not be an incarnate in the traditional sense. In a nutshell he's a war-mech (a... unicorn... mech...) pilot from an odd world where sarcasm crossed a line and began to be taken seriously, so names like Sprinkles and creatures like unicorns are considered dignified and strong.
This background alone means he'll probably be an Incarnate of Sarcasm.
-His Incarnate powers are just new technologies he's developed/salvaged from his destroyed war mech.

Yes long post, I like writing about my chars, even though I don't RP.

Lets see.

When I first started playing this game I was a junior in high school, and 40 was the highest level attainable.

Today I'm 24, and still see Archery and Sonic as those new sets. This is the first and only game I've been unwaveringly loyal to ever since
I've joined.

On thread topic response: I'd sacrifice Perez Park, often times I forget it's there.

Off topic: (I think) The Dev's have said they're revamping another zone, and its not one we've been asking for, so that more than likely eliminates Boomtown and Dark Astoria.

I'm thinking it's Talos or Independence Port.

Ok, the fairy business is starting to confuse me, the way they've played with it this season it seems they're going to be a major focus of S5.

-Jesus, I liked him, but I saw it coming.
-I don't really notice women often, but damn Jessica was hot.
-Holy crap Tara. A part of me wants her to be made into a vampire, just because with her character development it'd be interesting from a dramatic standpoint.
-Debbie had it comin', she only had herself to blaaame.
-I vote the werewolf was Marcus.
-Yay Russell is back, fantastic character.
-Steve Newlin as a vampire, I blame Russell, should be fun for next season.
-Rene's warning got me curious, is his ghost just fooling with Arlene, or does Terry have some serious skeletons in his closet. His friend looked really disappointed when Terry said he was married(in an unexpected roadblock kind of way, not that way).
-Nan's death scene was awesome, looked more than a little planned by Bill and Eric if you ask me.

I would kill for the freak out sprint, instant mood upper if that existed and I was in a foul mood.

It may have been scripted but it was funny as hell.

Best part of that was the poll at the end:

Why did the filmmakers put Michael Fassbender in drag?
-To show off his natural feminine beauty
-To eff with him
-They didn't -- that's your mom

Stalkers: I hate needing to run away to heal myself after only a few hits, they feel like a one trick pony. Don't get me wrong the concept is awesome, gameplay with the things bore and frustrate me to death. Plus the assassins strike isn't important or good enough for me to think a Stalkers spot wouldn't be better filled by a scrapper or brute.

Defender: I just cant play them. I greatly appreciate their usefulness and are a great addition to a team. but I tend to solo a lot and the damage and speed just isn't there. Corrupters I'm fine with though, waiting on a Beam/Time to go live.

Powersets:
-/sonic/: Any set which is almost universally agreed upon as being "only a team set" does not work for me.
-/Devices, /traps/, and /Trick arrow/: I've heard and seen good things of all of these sets, but the concept and appearance of these sets scream "I'm boring" to me.
-/Regen: I don't like the fact I'm adding this one to the list, as my first 50, Soulsunder, is one. But regen in the late game gets alarmingly squishy unless you take the Soul PPP or slot it with IO's. if the only way you can avoid faceplanting constantly involves needing to use specific sets or systems, it's not a good set. Soulsunder is shelved and mainly acts as an ATM for newer characters I've taken a liking to.

I'm meh about a bunch of other powersets in the game but I don't actively dislike them, the sets listed have disappointed me or I've never ever made a character with them due to lack of interest.