hepheastus

Back in 2004 I logged into City of Heroes for the first time. I chose the protector server, and rolled by first Character. A fire/fire blaster named Hephaestus. City of Heroes was the game I always wanted to play even before it was released. A vast world of superheroes where I could live out my nerdy fantasies. I won't like and say there weren't frustrations or disappointments. But this game kept me playing for 7 years. For 5 years I played it exclusively, ignoring all other games. And while I eventually branched out to other AT's the blaster was by far my favorite. I have 2 Level 50 blasters. Fire/Fire/Fire and Elec/Elec/Elec. And quite a few baby blasters. Even though I haven't played in over a year, news about the games closing makes me feel profoundly sad. Without thinking about it Paragon City became home. I'm going to miss it. And I'm going to miss all of you.

Thanks for the blasts folks.

I've been gone forever too. I didn't think this day would ever come. Hard to believe my triple fire blaster first took the skies close to 9 years ago. I haven't played in about a year, but Paragon City will always feel like home. Thanks for the verbal bashings CB, and thanks for being a blaster advocate. Peaceful journeys buddy.

Thanks for the replies folks.

Also I love doing superspeed drive byes with thunderstrike. And heaven forbid a boss get's knocked down by it. He'll find himself tesla caged+shocking grasp jacked before he regains his feet. Then.... it' fisty time.

Just got my Ill/Storm/Psi troller up to level 49 and I'm trying to decide what power will be my final. Stuck between group invis or world of confusion. I was wondering if WoC was worth the slot. How much damage does it provide? As Ill/Storm I already have more soft control than a needy girlfriend. But more damage would be welcome.
Any advice from someone who has taken this power and slotted it?

Oh wait... It's been almost two years. Time flies.

I'm back.

The Triple Fire Blastard you love to hate returns after a one year respite to once again give you all the hot foot.

Yeah I know. No one remembers and less than no one cares. But still.... hot feets. To all of you.

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The Praetorian Name thing is interesting. Let's look at some examples:

Statesman == Tyrant
Back Alley Brawler == Marauder
Positron == Anti-Matter
Mynx == Bobcat

So, in general, the Praetorian Name of a character is a reflection of their current name, but with a more...aggressive, sinister twist.

Given that:

Castle == Checkmate

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Heroes
Hephaestus==Hades
Powervolt==Electrocute
RaptorX==ReaperX

Villians:

Opportunist==Samaritan
Plague Of Fire==Blessing of Flame
Hidden Klaw==Valiant Fist

I could do this all day.... Won't..... but could.

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I've always enjoyed CoH, but I always have the same reoccuring problem that drives me away from it: I can't find my best-suited archetype/powers. I've tried and tried and just can't figure it out. So if you could either a) Suggest something off my recommended playstyle or b) Post what powerset/archetype you enjoyed most that would be so helpful. I really want to enjoy this game to the fullest, I just need to find the "perfect" set for me.

Archetypes I'm looking into:
CoH-
Controller
Scrapper

CoV-
Mastermind
Dominator

Playstyle/Wanted characteristics-
-Needed in a team but doesn't always need a team
-Good damage output (doesn't have to be insane, just not 5 mins for every enemy)
-Fun from early levels (don't wanna wait till 30 to have fun)
-Fast at leveling

I really don't care what you suggest. As long as it fits the playstyle I'm happy.

Thanks for all answers!

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Corrupter Elec/Kinetics
Defender Kinetics/Elec.

Save for the ocassional [censored] hat who hates speed boost everyone loves Kinetics on teams. And solo a kinetics user has good damage and utility. The combination of short circuit and transferrence is teh funee.

Or you can just be a cheap [censored] and roll fire/kinetics controller.

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[QR] (not an attack on any poster)

Nerfing controllers won't change how much damage your defender does. It won't change how many blasts you need to use to drop a +2 LT. It won't help what you see as a problem with defenders at all. Seems like what people are calling a defender problem is really AT envy.

I know how it goes; I used to hate controllers for their ability to buff/debuff almost as well as my defender. I was worried that controllers would get all the teams. When containment was announced, I panicked and made all kinds of now-embarrassing posts about how this was the final nail in the coffin of defenders. Thank god for forums purges.

Then I got back to playing the game.

Never once been turned down for a team because "controllers are better." Never once had a problem with killing things. Turns out these problems were all in my head, and exacerbated by bandwagonning forum superstars. The only real problem that I think defenders have is their absolute garbage inherent, and to be honest, my defender does just fine in spite of that. As another poster above me said, controllers are (in my opinion) a terrible bore to play, and that alone is enough to keep me blasting away with my defenders. Yes, they do less damage than some ATs. No, they don't do too little damage, which is an important distinction to make.

Also, if you think defender damage isn't up to par, you are not playing around with enough -res

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I remember you... DOOOOOOM....
jk

I have no idea who you are. The problem with your argument is that two defender sets have no way to buff damage or debuff enemy resistance. Force Field and Empathy. They got nothing.... bupkiss.... zip. Which is why I'd never play either. See I like to solo. And even If I were a team player someimes frankly I just don't want to be bothered. Don't get me wrong... I know empaths are sought after. But what about the bubblers? For that matter my low-level Trick Arrows/Archery defender sucks at teh damage. I'm hoping that'll change but I'm catching fits actually trying to convert live Mobs into dead mobs at a decent pace. Controllers got containment to help them solo at low levels. My archer got a bag of rocks and some pointy sticks that just piss off mobs who then beat me about the head with the bag of rocks.

Pfft. Because damage is king silly.

Nah just kidding.

Defenders are cursed by the dev's Idea of "just right"

I don't like the Idea of nerfing controllers or blasters to make defenders look better though. I'd rather buff defenders.

There are a couple issues with defenders that need to be fixed. But won't because of the nature of the game.

The first problem...
The share their primary with controllers. Controllers can use most defender secondaries with around 75% effectiveness. Paired with their control primaries they completely overshadow defenders in what they can offer to teams. This is a pretty damned heinous oversight as far as I'm concerned.

The other problem is soloability. Most defender sets allow soloing at a fairly decent clip. The exceptions of course are Empathy and Force-Field. The dev's answer to this charge is ...su...su...suck it. You knew going in that your powerset is team oriented. What they omit in statements like this is that the very AT is team focused. Yet some defenders solo well. Leaving 2 sets out of the equation is just wrong. The solution is simple of course. Build some method of increasing effective damage into those sets that isn't dependent on team mates. Won't happen. And it's completely unfair.

Third: Vigilance totally sucks.

Here's what I'd do.

Re-jigger the inherent and give Defenders an endurance buff. Defenders would simply regen endurance at a faster base rate. This would increase depending on how many team mates the defender has. That would address a couple issues. Defenders have to work harder to kill stuff. An endurance buff would be helpful. Not to mention the fact that defenders need more endurance to protect larger teams. They shouldn't have to get that endurance by allowing their team mates to get hurt. Give Defenders status resistance. (not protection) Resistance. Hard to be vigilant when you're drooling.

Finally something needs to be done about defender secondaries. The blasts. Some defenders forget they even have those because of the paltry damage. The fix of course is to increase the power of the seconary effects. And while we're at it boost the mez effects too. A mild damage boost shouldn't be out of the question either.

Let's be honest....When you're trying to choose between rolling a controller or a defender right now.... Is there any real reason to choose defender? That needs to be fixed.

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actually, no, im on right now, on freedom, and the only thing ppl are looking for is brutes kins and doms, so i cant get a group with anything else, that i wanna play

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Maybe it isn't the AT you play keeping you off teams, but the fact you're an a$$-hat.

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I loled

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It is entirely possible that Positron wasn't being entirely truthful when he claimed that Castle and his team didn't have time for Powerset Proliferation in Issue 13 because they were completely consumed by the Custom Critter Creator. If we are getting Power Customization, even just the ability to change the colors, then it seems that Castle and crew have been recoding all of the powers in the game that have a visual effect.

I can see how an undertaking like that could get in the way of Powerset Proliferation.

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Castle and his crew were entirely consumed by custom critter powers in the 13-14 time frame. There's no dishonesty or secret agendas...there was just a lot of work that went in under the hood for Mission Architect.

There wasn't any time for powerset proliferation then, and with the work being done for future content, there's not really a lot of time to do it now. Proliferation is very low hanging fruit, but we're really jammed right now and I honestly can't say when we might be able to squeeze in another batch. What we need always ends up taking precedence over what we want, and right now there's a lot of need.

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You guys NEED to get paid I assume. And we WANT power proliferation.... do you see where I'm going here? We don't NEED to pay our fees unless we WANT to play this game... Funny thing the interplay between need and want.

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3 points of KB protection isn't quite enough for all the run of the mill KB you will encounter. If you dislike KB in general than Lightening Clap is where you will most likely want this set.

If you are a KBphile like my Energy/Elec is you'll want it in Energy Torrent, Explosive Blast, Lightening Clap, and Thunderstrike. Just because that toon likes the KB so much I picked up the fire epic and slotted it into Bonfire as well.

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I slotted into bonfire. 3 points of KB protect is actually pretty decent. At least it protects against the run of the mill KB that get's so annoying. It's definitely noticeable.

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Bosses will gut you even with those psuedo fear effects going.

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That's what Air Superiority is for.

/sigh

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Air superiority was created to make you look stupid when you run up against a boss in a rain of fire with hot-feet on, only to realize that the boss is knockdown resistant.

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The my play style is to let the tank agro then or wait until the troller hold then.Then jump in the middle,stay there spaming all the AoE attacks,move to the next target with ST. All that done with atleast one healer on the team(I <3 Empaty :3)I use insp a lot to keep alive but can understand why Livinghellfire maneuverability in and out is safest option when the team is not great or lack of someone with rez... but staying in is the faster way to kill them in my small expirience.

What about the fear effect in Hotfeet + Rain of fire + burn combo? with that much "fear" then the wouldn't have time to attack since the npc AI just tell then to run away.Also Hotfeet slow they would be dead before the get out of range. This is just a theory but want to know if someone have try it.

So far I notice that minion die really fast with just a pair of application of FSC+fireball+combustion(with BU/AIM).I will pick blazing aura at lv 35, if the range is small like it was say will drop it.Finally the build made by Icesickle will help me now how i should slot the power I need. 8)

Bet I can melt AV like ice with this build.

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The rain of fire + hot-feet thing works in principle. But here's the problem with it.

Small fry like minions and most lieuts can be wiped out with an opening salvo of BU+AIM Fireball, fire breath, FSC. Bosses will gut you even with those psuedo fear effects going. And many of them can simply turn hot feet off by mezzing you. I suppose you could use that technique untill you have epics with control options available.

I disagree with the whole "there are no bad powers" in the fire secondary assertion.

I've used them all and some of them simply suck. Combustion being one of them. Burn being HIGHLY situational. The problem with the fire secondary is that it's all re-treaded stuff from other AT's. Hotfeet for controllers is good. The mobs are locked down and containment and hot-feet are just nasty. For blasters it might be okay if paired with rain of fire or on teams. Solo it's usefulness is greatly blunted. Burn's activation time and root make it useless for a highly mobile blaster like me. Luckily we now have access to alt builds. I have a team build loaded with AoE powers from the secondary. I whip it out when I'm on control or tanker heavy teams. Otherwise I use my solo build which is tuned to my playstyle. I.E. pick your melee opportunities carefully and keep moving.

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Hello,

I have been playing my only hero,Fire blaster, in the past couple of days.When notice that I end up playing it like my Dom,stalkers,brutes, and MM spending 80% of the time in melee range using Combustion,Fire sword circle,fire ball,Rain of fire. All that in a team of +5 players.

Then I get this tell form a "veteran" blaster telling me that should drop x-y-z powers because they "Suck". Follow by a monologue of how to be a blasters.

Since I don't know [censored] about blaster I just stand there,rolling eyes, wondering why the hell /fire gets Melee AoE,blazing aura and hot feet in the first place; if isn't to jump in the middle of the mob and kill everything around you like a blazing death god.

What is the popular opinion for fire/fire blaster?

How good or bad could be if I go for a melee/AoE heavy blaster?[/list]All in all, I like blaster a lot, they are my first and only hero. There is nothing like then in CoV and will like to hear opinions.

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Get rid of combustion.

You don't need it. Fireball+Firebreath+Fire Sword Circle give you all the AoE damage you'll need. If you're going to close to Melee make it worth it. Fire Sword and Fire Sword Circle are worth it. Combustion is not.