Tommy_Atomic

More of The Secret World for me.

As for my weekly duo-ing session with a friend back East, we'll probably start with LOTRO. (I've never tried it but we're both LOTR fans and the price is right.) If LOTRO doesn't work out, maybe SWTOR will be more interesting this time around with someone to duo with. If we get really desperate, I might take him over to WoW. If anyone has better duoing ideas, let me know. Our machines are a little older and he doesn't like big subscriptions.

For myself, if The Secret World doesn't make it, I might actually dust off Age of Conan at some point, I put a lot of time in there and it's fun, especially soloing, and time cards are cheap (it's free but VIP has its benefits). Or finally make some headway in Skyrim. I'd love to get over MMORPGs; WoW (raiding and community) burned me out on them just enough to not enjoy them but not enough to not play them.

I've been playing for 2-3 months (after a couple years away) without Going Rogue. The only thing I've missed at all is the alignment merits, but only now that my latest character is nearing the cap. If you're planning to stay hero or villain, aren't stressed about min-maxing your IOs with the expensive rare ones yet (which alignment merits help with), and still find the standard powersets fresh (or find them fresh again after being away), then the expansion is overkill for now.

That being said, 19.95 is nice. Mommy Atomic didn't raise no fool. I went ahead with that, yessir.

Hi, I've been back for a couple months after a year or two away, too.

Terrific. Thanks!

From wikis and boards (and pre-IO experience), my understanding was that a respec dumped your enhancements out in a pool and let you re-slot them. Anything you didn't slot before closing the window was converted to Inf (iirc).

But recently I thought I heard someone say they respecced to get some nice IOs out of one character and over to another. Is that possible now?

I like /Inv with EM because you can hop into a big pile of baddies and use the +tohit/+DEF spike and massive single-target damage to burn down the psi/toxic/boss guy, thus plugging INV's hole fast and leaving you large and in charge for the rest of the spawn. /INV is pretty great when you're not having to worry about the psi/toxic holes.

Thanks for the answers, very helpful as always.

Sorry I didn't state this first: yes, I'm redside, although I was planning to switch to blueside when my latest character hits her 20s, as I haven't played past the 20s on blue-side since CoV came out. But I'd forgotten about the demonic accolade. I might stick around and pick that up before I switch sides, I do recall that being nice to have and relatively easy to pick up.

What are brutes doing on blue-side? Rolewise, I mean. Are they fitting into an off-tank niche or are they usually invited just to DPS?

It seems like with all the tanks blue-side, brutes would be asked to be all-out DPS slightly more often than red-side. That in turn would suggest that the brutes with fast self-fury sets (e.g., claws) and/or lots of AOE (for grabbing aggro) would be at a small advantage, as well as DPS-focused secondaries like SD and fire over higher-survivability secondaries like /stone and /inv who may find their survivability going to waste a bit more often.

Speculation aside, is that how it has ended up? Can anyone with a blue-side brute (or who has teamed with one enough to go beyond speculating) enlighten me?

Hi, sorry for a very newbish question (I'm returning after years away), but I've been scouting the badge-hunting sites and forums and I think my question is a little too basic.

Are there any badges in particular that you'd recommend getting while I'm still leveling?

When I played last, if you missed a badge (especially a mish badge), you were dead. Now I realize we have Ouroboros, but I've heard that there are badges (e.g., Efficiency Expert) that can't be made up that way. I'm also assuming Mayhems can't be made up later.

But beside specific exceptions like those, are there any other badges/accolades/etc. that you'd recommend getting while still leveling? (i.e,. easier/more fun/useful/whatever)

I was going to put off everything for a while (unless tripping over it on my Vidiot maps) -- on the assumption that especially stuff like exploration and big kill badges are a lot easier to manage if you do them at once and at high-level -- but I don't want to regret anything later.

Thanks. Sorry if my google-fu has failed me.

"Ruin" (under "Masks with Hair").

Thanks for the replies. I've been doing a lot of reading.

I'm mostly stuck picking my ATs. I'd like to explore all the solo content I can, while still getting into every TF at least once. I'd also prefer to do blue-side content first; the guides/population seem slightly better, increasing my chances of seeing it all, and I've seen less of it than red-side.

My first thought was a blaster, but they seem incredibly common during my short forays so far; my next choices -- brutes and corruptors -- probably still are too, but I love brutes and corrs, especially kinetics. I do like defenders a lot -- esp kin and emp, for concept reasons -- but I have bad memories of not finding enough TFs to make up for how much I lost in soloability (I've been spoiled by my brutes); plus, emp/ used to become much less useful at higher levels, while kin/ sounds very common nowadays, at least on the forums.

So I think I've narrowed my top preferences down to: Go kin/ defender and try to find an active SG ASAP so I can see regular TFs, saving the badge/arc-hunting for another toon; or go /kin corr and then switch sides ASAP with GR. I have a feeling brutes will be everywhere after GR, or that'd be a top choice too. /kin corrs will probably be common too, but I recall corrs being a bit more stackable and less common.

Anyway, just thinking out loud...

Hi, I've been /afk for a couple years. I came back yesterday -- without knowing about GR -- and now I want to see it all! (Especially if GR is about to suck the population away from the old content...) I've read the "must see" thread, most of the Issue notes, and the forums for all the archetypes, but I'm still feeling at a bit of an impasse.

What's the best archetype and server for seeing the most TFs (while still being able to do as many regular missions as possible)? My highest levels are only low 40s on Hero and Villain sides (alt-itis), mostly controllers, /kin corrupters and brutes. I've only really seen the blue-side pre-30 TFs (but would happily do them all again).

If you had to start red or blue, which would it be?

I got the chance to play with some base-building and IOs last time around, as well as a little bit of PVP, but the MA stuff is new. Mostly I'd just like to see as many of the zones, TFs, and top mission arcs as possible. I think badges are pretty addictive too.

Any other tips for a returning player?

P.S. This is already long, but I've got to say, CoX was my first MMO and 3-4 games later, it's very fun to be back (again). I spent a while today just listening to Skyway. Good memories...

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I am strongly against name-camping.

Every pre-20 character not played in the last 30 days should have its name made available. Ever pre 32 not played in the last 60 should have its name made available. Every 50 not played in 120 should have its name made available.

The quality of names has really suffered due to the number of people camping names that they will never use. The only risk to giving up a name you've camped is that someone else will play it regularly, which says to me that they deserve it more than you.

That's how it works in comics, too. Names get passed on when the old holder fades away.

Always be looking for an SG to join. It might take a few tries. But once you've been part of a stable, like-minded SG for a couple TFs or game sessions, you'll never go back to pickup play (and even solo will lose its charm). When a TF takes five minutes to put together and you finish it in half the time with a fraction of the debt when the average level is 1-2 lower than any team with which you've ever completed that TF before.... you'll know you're home.

Find something more than solo powerleveling to keep you in the game. You'll burn out after a few hundred hours (and if you make it longer than that, then you've just got more of nothing when you finally give up). Find something to make it interesting again, like badgehunting, trials, movie-/screenshot-making, guide-writing, or my personal favorite, serious, concept-oriented SGs.