I love the post, Mighty Scourge. Coming from Everquest 2 myself, I can attest to there being a learning curve when you switch to City of X. I played a tanker there past level 50, but the changes to tanking here blew my mind. I posted here, though, to relate a funny 'RuHelar' related story.
I'm on a task force team the other day, with a level 20-ish group. My character is a level 20 radiation/radiation defender with one radius heal and a whole pack of toggle debuffs. We also had a level 20 illusion/force field controller who is an sg-mate of mine and another of our sg-mates, a blaster.
So of course, we wait around for a half-hour while the ringleader of the other half of our group looks for a 'healer'. I try to explain to him that between my debuffs, the controller's force fields, and confusion and phantom army we're just not going to take a lot of damage. After thirty minutes or so he picks up one more player and, presumably having absorbed my advice, decides to get started.
We go through the first three missions without a hitch. Zero complications. Seven characters in the team, and we're mowing through it. I'm not sure anyone ever dropped out of the green, health-wise.
So... As we emerge from the third mission, our tanker notices we don't have a 'healer'. We realize this because he says, "ur a <bleep!>, [leader]" and quits the team. After some puzzlement on my part, [leader] explains that he just realized we don't have a healer, and his guys won't do it without a healer. So I tell him that this is where his four and my three part ways.
Long story short, we pick up two more controllers and the five of us mow through the Task Force. I send a tell to the other team's blaster, who was a good guy, anticipating their being close to the end too. Come to find out they've wiped twice, lost one of their group in frustration, and are now sort of stalled out slogging through it.
They did finish, and good on 'em. I'm not sure I would've had the patience to finish it their way.
9 out of 10 times in my opinion, someone who says "we need an x" is right that we need something, but wrong about what x is
Wavicle, Energy/Energy Blaster, dinged 50 in Issue 4, summer of 2005.
@Wavicle, mostly on the Justice server.
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9 out of 10 times in my opinion, someone who says "we need an x" is right that we need something, but wrong about what x is
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That's a very interesting observation.
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9 out of 10 times in my opinion, someone who says "we need an x" is right that we need something, but wrong about what x is
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9 out of 10 times X is equal to getting rid of the person who said we need X in the first place 
Centinull
I have a Ninja/Trick Arrow MM (lv36 as of now) and while it isn't as bad in CoV as it is in CoH, many people are shocked when I cannot heal them. Trick Arrow is a great set, I love it, especially Glue Arrow and Poison Gas Arrow, which are great defensive debuffs that help keep your minions (or teammates) from getting wailed on. And of course Oil Slick is great but thats off the topic of Buff/Debuff vs Heals. I think a good team has something like a Force Fielder or a Storm Summoner for the buff/debuff aspect, but a great team has someone with a solid heal in addition to the former. The problem is that people misunderstand and assume Green Numbers > Intelligent Teamwork. "Agro is the Tank's responsibility, if I get attacked it's his fault" from the Fire Blaster who AoEs the mobs b4 the Tank has herded them. "I am dying too much, we need more people to heal me" from the lv8 regen Scrapper running ahead of his team in a doomed FrostFire mission. The "Healer" mindset, the names, the idiots asking for them, this is too engraved in the game to ever go away... no matter how many people we educate. All we can do is strive for a world in which there are enough people willing to logically explain what the team is lacking, to the <Insert moron saying we need more X here> how to make the shattered mission succeed, to help reduce the number of H34L0rz. It's not an isolated problem, similar incidents exist elsewhere in this game and many other games. They are a conflict of ideas, with intelligent people who know (or think they know) what is going on, and stubborn or stupid people who believe they are right untill you prove them wrong. But if we all agreed on everything... I don't think I'd have as much fun.
Thank you so much for this post.
I just needed to say that my first toon ever was a kinetics defender, and IMO kin/ or /kin is by a small margin the most helpful defender set, followed by FF, followed by Empathy and Rad. This is from the perspective of someone who plays an ice/EM tanker most of the time.
My latest toon is an Empath defender, and I have already experienced the "RuHelor" attitude. The heals in empathy and the buffs are certainly powerful, but one CANNOT keep fort on all team memebrs all the time. It doesn't last long enuf or recharge fast enough.
Especcialy in the Hollows, I seem to often team with people who play like the cannot be defeated. They charge into +3's and expect ME to save them with my "awesome healz." THis is the attitude at work. If I see this happen a few times, its "gtg team, SG callin" or maybe "u guys suck, cya!" and the quit button for me.
SO yeah, thanx for the post. Too bad most of those noobs in the Hollows never read the boards anyway. 
Here is a favorite story of mine:
I was a Claw/regen scrapper, teamed with three other regens Two BS and one katana. This is level 16ish, so we are really getting our regen on. We enter the mission, it looks to be a decently hard one. Its on invincible, so I say we should be careful. The broad-sword wielding leader chargest head first into the mob, dies, we scrap for a minute and eventually only me and the katana user escape.
I suggest we turn down the skill level, and the leader utters the scariest thing I have ever heard "we need a healer" I tried to tell him what was said here, or that with four regen scrappers, a healer isn't high on the priority list, or that dying instantly in a blaze of alpha glory is not going to be helped by a healer. He calls me a noob. He doesn't even try to be nice: "well i want a healer." So, he finds a generic healer, witha generic heal-related-pun-name. We re-enter the mission and he does the same thing, dies the same way, calls the healer a noob and we essentially disband.
The sad part? There was a lv 17 FF/psy LFT!
Balefull, your sig is sooo good I'm going to steal it!!
Centinull
There are an awful lot of people who play City of Heroes/Villains just to beat stuff up. They're Scrappers and Brutes and sometimes Tanks. Blasters, if they don't know better. 
The problem with the "beat stuff up" folks is that the don't understand many of the game mechanics in the first place. "Debuff? What?" is a really common thing to hear. I've taken five defenders and three controllers past level 25, and like the guide author, I can tell you that in a pickup group, maybe half your teammates will actually understand what the support classes actually do. That's an immutable law of CoX.
It comes up on the defender and controller boards from time to time, but it really is worthwhile for support players, including Empaths and Thermals, the he4lzor-types, to make binds explaining what your powers DO, once you're on a team. It's just too much to think that every is going to be aware of what the black hairball on all the bad guys' feet is actually doing.
I ran an Empathy Defender to 50. Honestly, it made me completely neurotic from level 1 to about 25. Every point of damage felt like it was my fault, and I literally did have people who would blame me for being damaged. That's what the "R U he4l0r"-people do to support types. At level 26 I finally started taking attacks and being very active in explaining that my powers were more for increasing the blue bar and making sure teammates can hit their target than about healing. It made the game a lot better. For me at least.
Honestly, it takes maybe 24 hours of play to get any AT to level 18. Some people can do 18 levels in 18 hours. I'd guess most people could do that in a week. If there's a powerset you don't understand, go spend a week in its shoes. I end up giving that lecture every single time I see someone say something as stupid as "We need a he4lur" while turning down a Dark Defender. Frankly, comments like that are why I hate to even team with people I don't know.
Things I hate: Anime. PvP. Lying MMO Developers. Outleveling content. Manga. ED. Comic Store Employees. Anime.
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They are a conflict of ideas, with intelligent people who know (or think they know) what is going on, and stubborn or stupid people who believe they are right untill you prove them wrong.
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I don't mind people who believe they're right until you prove them wrong. The problems are the people who believe they're right even after they've been proven wrong.
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Yes, non-heal buffs help, but healing trumps them because it's the only buff that prevents faceplants. Non-heal buffs delay faceplants, and make them less likely overall, but healing outright does away with them for the most part. This is at the heart of the reason why "healers" are specifically sought out.
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Dude OMG...
Heals are a direct counter to damage. HOWEVER the buffs/debuffs are damage mitigation/prevention. If you're not taking damage you don't need a heal. If you're taking LESS damage you don't need heals as often. If the enemy is so debuffed or you're so buffed he can't tough you what do you need a healer for.
A healer is great when you're taking damage but there are so many ways to reduce or even eliminate taking damage it's not funny.
I solo stuff on my rad/rad defender that I'd never have done with my blaster because with his debuffs he can. Whatever damage slips through isn't enough to make him worry. What does he need a healer for? Hell the heal he does have isn't even slotted because I need it so infrequently it's literally (in my case) wasted slots that can be used for other stuff.
I think you're missing how buffs/debuffs work if you think healing is the only real form of face-plant prevention.
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See more "people are morons" and we are so smart comments.
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Guilty as charged. After a 50 FF, a 32 SS, a 17 Emp and an assortment of others, I can safely say that maybe half the playerbase has no clue beyond their preferred powersets. And these are the people playing blasters, scrappers and tankers. After telling the 400th person at a Hami raid that the Crey pistol isn't a hold, the creeping despair hasn't just settled in, it's painted the inside of my head black and hung some really ugly curtains.
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Even "IF" it's true, what good is it to post it? Only the really "SMART" people are gonna read it right? To post these here are useless because the group that might need the info will not be reading it and the ones that read it don't need it. Does it just make you feel better about yourselves?
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All IMO, I wouldn't presume to speak for "everyone". Venting eases my disgust. Reading the comments of other players with clue reminds me that not everyone outside my SG is a drooling moron incapable of telling the difference between a def buff and a heal.
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It all goes back to trying to fix the problems instead of complaing about them.
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I am one, they are many. If I wanted to be a teacher, I'd be getting paid for it rather than doing it for free in an MMO. And really, after you've told the 10th person at a Hami raid which of *his own powers* is a hold... you reach a limit. Or at least I do. That said, I do teach regular teammates and SGmates. I just don't teach PUGs anymore because most of them just don't learn.
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Just lets please keep the forums for pertinent and helpful info.
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Trust me, the forums are big enough to fit 1 humorous thread, even in the guides section. In the 5 days we've managed 37 posts in this 1 thread, there have been perhaps 1500-2000 posts over in Forum Games (and this is a slow week). And there has been a lot of helpful info... I've learned 4 or 5 new ways to spell RUH33l0r.
Love your writing as always TMS. Was it just my imagination, or did you take a break from posting for a while?
Well, either way, great new material.
-Dr. Rob
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They are a conflict of ideas, with intelligent people who know (or think they know) what is going on, and stubborn or stupid people who believe they are right untill you prove them wrong.
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I don't mind people who believe they're right until you prove them wrong. The problems are the people who believe they're right even after they've been proven wrong.
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Winners never quit and Quitters never win...but people who never win and never quit are idiots... 
Fire Brick - Fire/Stone Tanker
Plasma Brick - Fire/Fire Blaster
Dark Brick - Dark/Regen Scrapper
Electron Transfer - Kin/Elec Defender
Zeake Ferrari - PB
Mr. Rick - Inv/SS Tanker
Einsiedler - Bots/Traps MM
Ice Brick - Ice/EM Tanker
One man's paranoia is another man's engineered redundancy.
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Winners never quit and Quitters never win...but people who never win and never quit are idiots...
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Your weekly dose of despair.com, brought to you by Fire_Brick!
The entire poster series is my screen saver. My desktop? Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all of the unhappy people. Those things are great!
Fire Brick - Fire/Stone Tanker
Plasma Brick - Fire/Fire Blaster
Dark Brick - Dark/Regen Scrapper
Electron Transfer - Kin/Elec Defender
Zeake Ferrari - PB
Mr. Rick - Inv/SS Tanker
Einsiedler - Bots/Traps MM
Ice Brick - Ice/EM Tanker
One man's paranoia is another man's engineered redundancy.
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See more "people are morons" and we are so smart comments. Even "IF" it's true, what good is it to post it? Only the really "SMART" people are gonna read it right? To post these here are useless because the group that might need the info will not be reading it and the ones that read it don't need it. Does it just make you feel better about yourselves? It all goes back to trying to fix the problems instead of complaing about them.
And to Daemongelous, when the group said "nice heals" did you take the time to explain that you did'nt heal them, but rather protected them. At least they noticed something was going on.
Just lets please keep the forums for pertinent and helpful info.
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Maybe "stupid is as stupid does" was a poor choice of words. "Monkey see, monkey do" would have fit, but I'm sure somebody would have felt it insulting to monkeys...
The point is, if the team leader (or other team member) feel that there is "no way we're gonna beat this without a healer", then the team is probably doomed to fail from the beginning. Often, the problem lies in the tactics (or lack thereof) the team is attempting.
And for the record, I do make suggestions in game. However, I will not attempt to force/brow beat (in game at least...on the Forums? The gloves are off!) another player into playing differently. I make...suggestions. "You know...we have enough control and damage in this group that we probably don't need a heal." When the reply is: "Wat!! U n00b!1!! H3alorz is the ROXXORZ!!!!!1!!!eleventyone!!" I sigh and click the quit button, because we're probably boned to begin with.
I just don't like teaming with that mentality...does that make me an elitist snob...if the shoe fits...I guess...
Fire Brick - Fire/Stone Tanker
Plasma Brick - Fire/Fire Blaster
Dark Brick - Dark/Regen Scrapper
Electron Transfer - Kin/Elec Defender
Zeake Ferrari - PB
Mr. Rick - Inv/SS Tanker
Einsiedler - Bots/Traps MM
Ice Brick - Ice/EM Tanker
One man's paranoia is another man's engineered redundancy.
Your faq is good but it is lacking something. I know alot of you will not want to hear this but you do need to put in the faq the situations where having a healer is ok. Alot of the Empathy/Thermals hate I have been seeing is that alot of people will not give credit where credit is due when it comes to those powersets. There are just as many situations where those 2 powersets will out do the others. And there are a few situations where based on your team make up those debuffing powersets would actually slow your team down quite a bit.
For example, this past weekend I joined a team with a rad corrupter, this team had 3 electric melee brutes. I had asked the corrupter to invite another corrupters that can buff or heal but he said no, that the group was fine with just his powers. I had to explain to him that electric melee's single target damage is very very anemic when it compares to the other brutes and having 3 of us would make it even more slow. He still did not want to add another corrupter. After about 2 missions this leader left and someone else got the star and invited another corrupter to replace this guy. It was like night and day. By having a thermal corrupter to heal and buff, I was able to herd up some enemies which allowed all 3 electric melee brutes to use alot of aoe smash. We went thru missions about 4 times as fast. Had we had just rad or dark there is no way we could have done as well on clearing speed. If we had both thermals and rad or dark it would have helped on clearing speed much more.
Lastly I want to say this, you should be allowed to ask the powerset prior to the invite, especially if it is the last spot on a team. If I am going up against some mez heavy mobs a dark defender is not going to do us much good unless it is like fear or something. In these cases all the buffs/debuffs in the world is not going to save the team when everyone is perma held. So why waste your time and theirs by letting them on the team anyways? Sure their are sonic players with clarity but look how rare it is to see someone with that powerset. My post is not to take away from what the non-healing powersets can do but to help curve some of the empath/thermal hate that is out there where people dont give them the credit they deserve.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
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The entire poster series is my screen saver. My desktop? Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all of the unhappy people. Those things are great!
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You have no idea how relieved I am to hear I'm not the only one who made a screensaver (for work, of course) out of their demotivational poster series!
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Your faq is good but it is lacking something. I know alot of you will not want to hear this but you do need to put in the faq the situations where having a healer is ok. Alot of the Empathy/Thermals hate I have been seeing is that alot of people will not give credit where credit is due when it comes to those powersets. There are just as many situations where those 2 powersets will out do the others. And there are a few situations where based on your team make up those debuffing powersets would actually slow your team down quite a bit.
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Scourge never said Empathy/Thermal weren't good or useful sets. The rant was about the attitude that Empathy/Thermal is NECESSARY, or that you CAN'T SUCCEED without them, which is patently ridiculous, and has been proven wrong time and time again by many players' personal experience.
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Your faq is good but it is lacking something. I know alot of you will not want to hear this but you do need to put in the faq the situations where having a healer is ok. Alot of the Empathy/Thermals hate I have been seeing is that alot of people will not give credit where credit is due when it comes to those powersets. There are just as many situations where those 2 powersets will out do the others. And there are a few situations where based on your team make up those debuffing powersets would actually slow your team down quite a bit.
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Scourge never said Empathy/Thermal weren't good or useful sets. The rant was about the attitude that Empathy/Thermal is NECESSARY, or that you CAN'T SUCCEED without them, which is patently ridiculous, and has been proven wrong time and time again by many players' personal experience.
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But there are some case where you can't succeed without them. Honestly do you really think a trick arrow defender is going to be saving more people from the carnies, cot, arachnos, and devouring earth mobs than an empath or thermals will? Empathy/Thermals is the catch all net when it comes to these given situations, nothing short of getting 1 shotted is going to kill you with these powersets if that healer is doing their job.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
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But there are some case where you can't succeed without them. Honestly do you really think a trick arrow defender is going to be saving more people from the carnies, cot, arachnos, and devouring earth mobs than an empath or thermals will? Empathy/Thermals is the catch all net when it comes to these given situations, nothing short of getting 1 shotted is going to kill you with these powersets if that healer is doing their job.
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I have never encountered anything ingame that can't be dealt with without a "healer". Your comment about the TA defender is off the mark, because no one here ever said that ANY defender would do, or that you can handle any situation with any powerset. Some are obviously going to be better for some situations than others. But a "healer" isn't ever necessary.
You know, like tankers (a la your sig).
Tankers and healers are 2 different things, after all the nerfs that have happened tankers dont have a place because they have to be babysat. All non-granite tankers will face this at some point if they fight against non-smashing lethal mobs. Due to those changes the tanker ends up taking up most if not all the heals just to keep him going. In his case the buffer would work better to get him back up to his original strength pre-issue 5. Now as far as situations where healing is neccessary, their will be mobs with insanely high accuracy(gunslingers, DE quarts, shadow shard mobs,hamidon), there will be mobs with defense debuffs(cot quicksand, croatoa mobs), mobs that lower resistance(council sonic guys, gold brickers). In those instances a heal is going to be your best choice. Technically the only thing that will Always be better than a heal is 2 things. These 2 things will work better than the other forms of damage mitigation as well. One is this crowd control. Held mobs dont fight back. Its only drawback is availability. Second is extreme damage, dead mobs really dont fight back. 2 blasters using inferno will mitigate more damage than any defender could because the threat is gone.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
It sounds like you're trying to disagree, then end up agreeing with me by listing two things that work better than healing. I'm letting my statement stand unaltered - healing isn't necessary.
Great guide(rant). It was both informative and entertaining.
Centinull