When heavily inebriated and able to SMASH!!! as per normal, you know it's a good thing.
<3 SMASH!!!!
♦ Founding Member, Forum Host of the Pinnacle RP Congress ♦ The Joke is: 435 Alts and Counting!) ♦
♦ Penny Arcade Expo (PAX Prime) Enforcer (2005-present) - NCSoft Gold Assistant (2007-2008) ♦ Child's Play! ♦
As someone else mentioned in this thread, it's the simplicity of the AT that makes it so fun.
You don't think, you just... SMASH
Rag doll physics only aid to the amusement of being a Brute. Need I say more?
Brute is Beautiful.....and kinda fun feeling like a GOD!!! Seriously, I have rarely died. Hell been taking more risks just to die to keep up with the cost of SO and stuff.
I have waded into groups of yellows and oranges just to come out as the only Beast Standing!!! (Werewolf toon ROCKS!!)
And if I have a good corruptor nearby healing me I am DEATH!!!
Brute is my new buddy. (Evil Grin)
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Yup and I'll tell you why.....
As my sig states I am a habitual Defender or habitual support character. When CoV came out I stayed true to form and rolled Doms and Corrs.
One day while minding my own business I was struck with the idea to try a Brute. Well heck why not? Noone was around to see me and the door to my room was locked so.........
Now I can't play anything else!
I don't want to log in to any other toon!
Now, all I wanna do is SMASH!!!
Now I'm addicted to the SMASH
AND I now need to change my sig
I need some sort of 12-step now...
Darn Brutes.................................
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I feel your pain. My highest level Hero is a Rad/Rad defender. I got CoV and took my Mastermind to 15th teaming with my son.
I made a Brute to play when my son isn't able to play... I am now a Brute Junkie. 
I used to be a Defender, and an alt-oholic.
For the sake of completeness I made one of each ATs in CoV. The last one was a Brute.
My brute is now level 20, and I cannot stop. It is everything I always wanted my Dark Defender to be and then more. There is just such raw physicality to being a brute, that everytime I am done with a session I feel like I just had a workout. Plus, the joy of not having to hold anything back, to relish the pain and the challenge of taking the brunt of the enemies attacks, helping my team mates stay alive if it's the last thing I SMASH before falling flat on my face. Ah yes, I am having an absolute blast being a Brute.
(and who said that you cannot be subtle with a Brute -- using my dark powers to declaw my opponents is a bit like surgery, only I don't use anesthesia. By the way, for the sake of completeness, I should say that I am having a blast playing all of the CoV ATs, kudos to the devs).
Now, back to more murder and mayhem, revenge is a dish best served Hot!
Dominators, like controllers with attack powers and a nifty but restricted use inherent (man I'd love containment for Doms)
Master minds, who doesn't want cool pets cranking out the attacks?
!?!SMASH!?! GAWD! er I mean Brute nice inherent, super fun thematic super characters, how can you go wrong.
Favorite Alts/Mains (I don't remember what a main is...):
all on Justice
William Yeats Dark/Fire Brute, he get's knocked down alot but that just makes him angry ;d
Terra Victus SS/Stone, WHAMMO knockout blow
.
.
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Abyss Singularity Grav/NRG Dominator he has 7 attacks!@!
deluge of offense man, almost too many to use on my hotbar and he's only lvl 10
Captain Crack, robot/dark Mastermind, fun but being a bot nanny is nothing like SMASH!
SMASH!! Is definetely far too addictive. A little tale from last night, if you'll indulge me:
I've been teaming with my girlfriend (who's also enjoying her Stalker's stabbity goodness), and we're ripping through a mission filled with Wyvern at a furious pace. Due to the locations of the spawn and my life and endurance taps, there's barely a pause in the killing, but I'm down to about a quarter health as we round the corner and hit a boss, Lt and three minions.
My GF manages to say "Hold up a second, we'll need to..." before I spot my fury bar is at full, then roar and leap into the fray. The boss is halfway through his gloating spree when my fully-charged Shadow Maul explodes in his face. His health drops like a rock, and he runs through all his various phrases in under a second as I continue to beat him and drain his life. The little woman removes the Lt with a well timed stab, then goes to work on one of the minions bless her.
The boss drops just as a bloody patrol comes around the corner. They're bunched up, and Shadow Maul's recharged, so with health now on red, I let rip.
SMAAAAASH!!!
Three dead in the first attack, still on red health, life tap one, floor him with smite, punch out another with a one-two, turn to engage another with a roar....
...and there's no-one left.
After the red haze drops, I realise we've floored two groups, including a boss and Lt, starting on less than 25% health and endurance, in under 15 seconds.
I love my SMASH!
When I first turnedo n City of Heroes 7 monthes ago, the first thing I tried to play was a Tank. "Cool," I thought, "Something that can't die easily."
And it was just never that fun for me.
Next I tried a Blaster. "Cooler," I thought, "I get to KILL things."
And it was just never that fun for me.
Next I tried a Controller. "Meh," I thought, "This should be a nice distraction before I go back to the other two."
And it was REALLY fun for me. Huh, go fig, I like playing support classes.
At least, I did.
And I THOUGHT I loved pets. Brought a mastermind up to 20, and all. Pets are awesome, no?
Well, I finally tried a Brute, after toying around with a Dominator and a Stalker.
Oh, oh lord the smash. Being able to one shot an even con minion at lvl 2 . . . I alreayd bumpedu p my difficulty, and I'm level 5. I'm not even slotting anything that DROPS. I don't care if I MISS with an attack, because it builds up SMASH. I can Shadow Maul a +1 Leutenant to death. AT LEVEL FIVE.
Fury has made me feel that it is IMPERATIVE that I Attack the next group NOW. Not when I'm ready. When my FURY is ready. And my Fury only gets less ready as time progresses. I only have 20% life? Too bad, it's better to kill them now, and you know it.
I fear I may be becoming a SMASH addict . . . oh, oh dear I may need counciling . . .
"Hi... my name is Moot"... everyone says... "Hi Moot" "it has been seven days since I have done any real damage thing to ... you know... hurt things... um, well, yeah"
"I have tried to be good and ..well you know not POUND THINGS.......grrrr SMASH... SMASH..... SMASH "
"Dang it... back to step one..."
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Brute Combat Checklist
1. Full Fury Bar - CHECK
2. Health > 1 - CHECK
3. END for 1 attack - CHECK
4. SMASH!!!
Note: Items 2 and 3 are Optional.
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So true! Sitting there... brawl... brawl... must keep fury going until END rebuilds a little.... brawl... brawl... STONE MALLET!!! brawl.... brawl... brawl....
even my energy aura guy hits cap all the time. The only time I dont' get cap is when I'm teaming with MMs.
MMs are cute, colorful, and chocolately, but bad for the fury bar.
BAH! SMASH double post
what can I say? Brutes love to SMASH and they SMASH that [censored] real good
SMASH is so much fun, but I was seduced away by the joys of watching minions die for me. But I already know which is going to be my next alt once I hit the level cap.
It is really nice having a game with AT's so cool that I'm looking forward to making alts rather than making alts because I've gotten bored with my character.
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Sadly, I have never gotten to the fury cap...and I'm level 27 :<
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Are you using brawl? Brawl is spectacular fury building goodness.
I gotta make pain. I gotta make things right. I gotta stop what's comin'. 'Least I gotta try.
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lol it's not nuclear science. Brutes are so popular simply because they're the strongest AT in the game. as in overpowered. just like every other 'popular' AT in the game. once they get balanced, it'll stop. City of Blasters was stopped, City of Scrappers was the next wave, then it got stopped. City of Tankers happened. Got stopped. Hard. Now we're currently in the City of Brutes stage. Guess what's comin'?
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no way... brutes aren't the most powerful AT. They have mediocore defense and an offense that requires them to risk thier life to use. The reason thier popular is because when you're playing a brute, you don't really mind death so much... because right before you die, you're having the greatest rush the game provides.
(notices this thread sounds frighteningly like something from a cyberpunk-ish Sci Fi story.... feel the rush of electronic addiction.)
I gotta make pain. I gotta make things right. I gotta stop what's comin'. 'Least I gotta try.
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My favorite moment in CoV (think I was around level 10 at the time):
25% Health, very low Endurance, high Fury, only a single Inspiration left (Defense), spawn of 3 minions in front of me. Rest is recharge and I'm about to hit it when I think screw it, I'm going in. Luckily the first guy dropped a Heal Inspiration. Not sure if I wouldn't made it without it. Fury makes you do dumb things. 
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WOAH!!... hold on... you mean my brute has a rest button? huh... *bewildered look*
I gotta make pain. I gotta make things right. I gotta stop what's comin'. 'Least I gotta try.
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SMASH!! Is definetely far too addictive. A little tale from last night, if you'll indulge me:
I've been teaming with my girlfriend (who's also enjoying her Stalker's stabbity goodness), and we're ripping through a mission filled with Wyvern at a furious pace. Due to the locations of the spawn and my life and endurance taps, there's barely a pause in the killing, but I'm down to about a quarter health as we round the corner and hit a boss, Lt and three minions.
My GF manages to say "Hold up a second, we'll need to..." before I spot my fury bar is at full, then roar and leap into the fray. The boss is halfway through his gloating spree when my fully-charged Shadow Maul explodes in his face. His health drops like a rock, and he runs through all his various phrases in under a second as I continue to beat him and drain his life. The little woman removes the Lt with a well timed stab, then goes to work on one of the minions bless her.
The boss drops just as a bloody patrol comes around the corner. They're bunched up, and Shadow Maul's recharged, so with health now on red, I let rip.
SMAAAAASH!!!
Three dead in the first attack, still on red health, life tap one, floor him with smite, punch out another with a one-two, turn to engage another with a roar....
...and there's no-one left.
After the red haze drops, I realise we've floored two groups, including a boss and Lt, starting on less than 25% health and endurance, in under 15 seconds.
I love my SMASH!
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I find myself doing the same sort of thing.
Any other AT in the game? I'd be sitting there, solo, looking at 2 orange lieutenants and 3 yellow minions and thinking "eh, maybe I should wait a minute for my health and endurance." With my brute, suddenly I'm looking at that same group, have only 25% life, but 80% Fury and thinking "that's an easy fight."
All hail the SMASH!!!
Remove them no.
But I feel what you are saying. I have been in CoV from beta. When the game went live I rolled a stalker and got her to 15 in 2 days. I rolled are rad/thurm corr got her to 15 in 2 days. Did the same with a plant/thorn Dom. and a necro/poison MM.
Then I was like well screw it I want on of each AT so I can have verity. Needless to say I was locked to my CPU for 14hrs taking a eng/eng brute to lvl 15 and and then rolled a dark/invul that i took to lvl 16 and I dont want to stop playing.
So here i sit now with a LvL 15 stalker,corrup,Dom,and MM and all I want to play is the DM/Invul brute.
I guess I should have seen this coming with how much I love scrappers but the brute is just wow. I would trade my crit hit ablity on my scrapper for rage any day.
Far from over powered we are as a whole. And as stated above, the thrill of being so low on hit points, and having a huge fury bar, is an extreme rush, regardless if you win or lose. Thats what compels many of us to Brutes. The thrill of victory riding on the borders of death.
MA/REGEN: 50th Shadowgeist
SHLD/SS: 50th Justice Machine
ENG/ENG: 50th Dr. Fear
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Yup and I'll tell you why.....
As my sig states I am a habitual Defender or habitual support character. When CoV came out I stayed true to form and rolled Doms and Corrs.
One day while minding my own business I was struck with the idea to try a Brute. Well heck why not? Noone was around to see me and the door to my room was locked so.........
Now I can't play anything else!
I don't want to log in to any other toon!
Now, all I wanna do is SMASH!!!
Now I'm addicted to the SMASH
AND I now need to change my sig
I need some sort of 12-step now...
Darn Brutes.................................
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I agree.. Ican barely play my scrappers now without getting the itch to SMASH!
Only class I can play without being bored now, is an MM, and thats simply because there is something unnaturally pleasing about hitting one key, and watching an enemy get pincushioned with lasers.. get sent FLYING (I can usually pull off a double knockback.. is ungodly satisfying) and 30 numbers flying above their head..
Now, if only said barrage would make them stay down..
*shrug* SMASH! on.
Double post, my bad.
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Far from over powered we are as a whole. And as stated above, the thrill of being so low on hit points, and having a huge fury bar, is an extreme rush, regardless if you win or lose. Thats what compels many of us to Brutes. The thrill of victory riding on the borders of death.
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Man, that sez it all right there. For whoever it was with the erroneous impression that Brutes are "The most powerful AT in the game" you might try playing one for the first 20 levels or so. Save yourself some time though and go find the thread in this forum about the guy's experience with 35levels of DM/DA - he codifies the downsides really quite well.
We're addicted to SMASH beacuse it really is life or death out there when Fury is High and everything else is below 40% or so.
Hell, even my /invul brute with heavily slotted DP would get people asking why I was running around with low HP all the time.
Cause I'm too busy SMASHING!
But seriously, I started a fresh DM/EA last night because I couldn't hang with the PinkPomPoms of Death combined with the BlingBlingArmor from Invuln. don't get me wrong - I LOVED the SMASHTASTICNESS of EA, but the look just wasn't evil enough for me Heh.
(pops 2 purples in hopes that flames about DM/EA not being a good combo go whiffing by in silence)
((honestly I have no idea if it will be good or not, anyone with some tips - other than "DM sucks reroll" like the dude was saying over and over last night, just cause he hated it on his scrapper - is welcome to pipe up))
Anyway seriously - Brutes are friggin fun, but far from the most powerful AT - even at this particular moment since relative power is a moving target in all subscription based games.
Additionally, in a game like this "power" is a function of Build Skill (tm) - of which I have very little, ask me about /regen scrappers cause that was pretty much my schtick in CoH - but other than that my BuildSkill(tm) is pretty much BS.
A well configured build in this game has much an effect on your "power" as does your choice of AT and sets - but that's just me.
You again.
At level 31, I'm trying to NOT level up so I can get through all the contacts. This involves me running into purple mobs in St. Martial until I debt cap, then watching with horror as I claw my way back out in rather short order.
Brutes need never fear debt.
After much number crunching and omphaloskepsis, I determined what is important to brutes.
In descending order of importance:
Endurance (without this, glorious SMASH cannot be achieved)
Fury
Health
Teammate Health
Belly-Button Lint
Debt
As you can see, this is very scientific.
My Motto: "Debt is merely another Goal."
"Wow Abalest--you manage to start a discussion even when you ain't given a topic" -Ghostman
Abalests on Infinity:
Miss Fulcrum
Dark Soul Golem
Power Drain