gec72

Heh...here I thought the thread would be for faction exclusive costume sets. Like, Nemesis band uniforms, Malta standard-issue blues, Goldbricker Gear, maybe Rikti body types...

Thanks. Definitely leaning toward taking both Smoke Bomb and Bean Bag now. If I kill fast enough I'll be fine! (was the mantra on my Fire/Fire) Aid Other would probably have been a waste anyway as I plan on mostly soloing.

So would it be more advisable then to go ahead and take Bean Bag/Smoke Grenade - two powers I'd thought of skipping - over a combo like Aid Other/Aid Self?

(guessing now that the answer is 'yes'...haven't needed the Medicine pool on other toons so I guess AR/Dev needn't be different)

I used it as a set mule (6x Malaise) and for some mitigation. I suppose it chips in a tad with damage/confuse. It's not a fantastic power, but I thought it was ok.

This has been great for me so far, as I've been able to:

1. Move old villains that I didn't want to delete off of Virtue
2. Move old heroes on servers where I seldom play TO Virtue
3. Move a villain from Champion and back to facilitate a name change

I still have an out-of-place villain on Virtue that has her name taken on Champion. Maybe I'll switch sides with her - I rather like the name.

What this may well do (and I recognized this as a general result early) is encourage me to purchase additional slots where I might not have before. If the cost hurdle of moving toons to servers where I have established SG/VG (of my own) has been removed, paying a little to make sure I have room to make the moves is much more tempting.

Yeah, I got very, very frustrated with the slopes when they came out and swore them off. I just don't have the reaction times required to run the course well (and I use keyboard controls, where I think mouse movement may work better in this case).

Yeah, really the DOOM was just thrown in to cover another base. I don't really think it's called for here.

I myself can see using this to move a couple villains off of my main hero server (Virtue) to clear some room. Possibly banish a few alts my son made that are taking up space too.

That and I *may* attempt a move then move back to facilitate a name change. Character is only level 8, but that's still time that was spent leveling (and she has 9 merits) and could avoid a reroll.

Random thoughts:

* this was previously a paid service - maybe hardly anyone was paying for it?

* it could be in prep for Going Rogue; say you play blue-side on one server, red-side on another; if you plan on switching allegiances, maybe you'd switch servers too?

* maybe some folks wouldn't buy transfers, but given free transfers they might be willing to buy additional slots on the target server?

* marketing is just being nice?

* DOOM??

Redraw on the mace is one of the reasons I'm not opting for Mace Mastery on my WM/Shield brute. Actually I'm not going for any of the patron pools, but will take the Fighting pool and extra Shield powers instead.

On my way to school. To the swimming pool. To my favorite park - but not after dark.

1. Red Menacer, Broadsword/Regen/Body Scrapper (Virtue) - First 50. Big shirtless red guy with black boots, hood and cargo pants. Built before the advent of IOs (but largely after ED) and hasn't been retrofitted. Ran Sprint and Focused Accuracy constantly, which allowed me to skimp on Acc enhancements. I'll still pull him out once in a while, but not often. Has an open Cimeroran mission with a mission door in Peregrine Island, which is pretty interesting. At one point I think I tried to link him into Dr. Vahz's experiments (toxic res from Regen).

2. Oro Liquido, Invuln/EM/Energy Tanker (Virtue) - my first character ever (who had slots in Brawl initially...). Concept: partially made of gold, which makes him somewhat malleable. Beating anything with him for the first 30 levels was slow (at least I had Hasten!) but very safe. This picked up a bit later. I took Resist powers on him before it was popular. Has some IO, but I never put together a Mids build for him. I haven't really even played him since the EM changes to test him out.

3. Blue-Agave, Mind/Kin/Psionic Controller (Virtue) - because Tequila (from the Blue agave plant) can seriously mess with your mind! B-A was really fun to play, both teamed and solo. My first toon to have a plan in Mids, and is maybe 90% equipped with IO sets. My only toon to complete the ITF. Also never took a travel pool, but relied on the Jingle Pack and Siphon Speed until level 28.

4. Astrasmash, Grav/Storm/Stone Controller (Virtue) - inspired by the classic Intellivision game Astrosmash. Has five costumes colored after different levels in the game. Worked thematically I thought with space/rocks falling from the sky. She started a little slowly (pre-Containment!) but really came into her own at later levels. Primarily soloed.

5. Zap Dingbat, Energy/Kin/Mu Corruptor (Champion) - My first villain 50! I only teamed with her twice, and at that point I didn't even have Speed Boost! But, I persevered and survived anyway, though it was challenging with little mez protection. Had to use knockback (and knockdown, with Air Sup) to my advantage. Had Hover, but no travel power. Had a nice balance of IO bonuses (some recharge, some resistance, some regen) and an Entropic Chaos proc in Power Bolt that was pretty handy.

6. Blu Blazes, Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster (Virtue) - Blu was a blast (no pun intended) to play. I built her possibly against common wisdom (took everything in the primary, no Consume but Burn and Hot Feet in the secondary). Focused on playing at range, with some typed defensive bonuses, movement and regen. Also attempted to focus on mitigating mez, with Acrobatics, IO bonuses and the Aegis unique. If I was to be held, it wouldn't be for long - and I could still blast away with Fire Blast and Flares. Soloed, and I believe my fastest 50 to date. First 50 on my second account.

7. Doctor Plumbum, Mercs/Poison/Mace Mastermind (Champion) - Plumbum is latin for lead, which the doctor could either poison you with or just plain shoot you with. Could be considered a Tankermind I guess, as using Provoke while in Bodyguard mode was his main strategy. Soloed most of his career, but probably my biggest thrill with him was teamed; around level 47 or 48 I teamed with a 50 to "help" with missions from his patron (turned out to be an AE baby with few if any slots). He died, I ended up soloing a purple-con Silver Mantis. I was pleased.

8. Hiberpsyche, Ice/MM/Cold Blaster (Virtue) - had never played Ice before, and wanted to try out the new Mental Manipulation set. It was different, but in a good way. 6-slotted World of Confusion did help with mitigation, as did the holds in Ice. Like Blu Blazes, took CJ and Acrobatics. Blizzard rocks, and works well with Drain Psyche. Also, with Drain Psyche I was able to skip the Fitness pool. Soloed exclusively.

9. Treebucket, Plant/Thorns/Leviathan Dominator (Champion) - figured it was time to finally play a Dom, especially with changes to Domination on the horizon (at the time). Took Vines VERY late (47), so I relied on Domination and being careful to deal with bosses (Creepers helps, as does Water Spout). Seeds of Confusion is obviously huge with this set and is the standard opening move. I took AND LIKED Thorntrops too - both in larger groups and against bosses, I found it great to limit their movement (if they weren't already Rooted) and to constantly tick damage. I *think* he is almost at Permadom, but needs that 4th Basilisk's Gaze to get there. My richest toon, and the first to break 100M. Soloed, and dinged 50 just last week.

10. Lucky Slice, Dual Blades/Willpower/Weapon Scrapper (Virtue) - The first toon I've taken Tough and Weave on, as I decided to do this late rather than take anything else from Weapon Mastery (boo Scrapper epics). Took Caltrops just for kicks (though I find I do use it a lot against Carnie bosses, interestingly), and for the 1.5% recovery from Tempered Readiness. The first of my toons to slot both the Miracle and Numina uniques. She seems to be really, really survivable and I will look to test her limits. Soloed, dinged 50 yesterday.

I say: make two characters (say, Katana/Regen, BS/WP), work through the content two different ways.

Others have summed up the differences in the sets nicely. I have a BS/Regen, and timing was indeed key playing him (healing in time and juggling with redraw). Hit like a ton of bricks though. I also have a DB/WP, on which I can pretty much concentrate on offensive combos and leave defense to the passives. I can be a bit more...lazy with her.

Hmm...that's unfortunate, but good to know. I'll probably have to make a point to spend some time outside of my normal routine of running between solo missions and the market, and maybe play a little more blue-side during the holidays. Just a wild guess that I'll have a little more luck happening upon it Blue-Side Virtue than Red-Side Champion.

Does the spawning of a Winter Lord throw an alert in the chat window? I was playing Red-Side last night on Champion but don't recall seeing any (did see at least one Rikti alert though...).