Well, Brutes are much more like Scrappers than Stalkers are, but I'd still recommend a Brute if you're not a big fan of MMs. Brutes and MMs are usually considered the solo-friendly villain ATs (even though they're all pretty solo friendly).
If you're going to be solo for most of the time, a /Fire, /Willpower, or /SR Brute might be pretty good. As for Primary, they're all decently good, but the animations on Energy Melee are pretty long, if you don't like those.
Difficulty in missions: the highest you can go while being able to go through missions at a decent rate without dying too much. Basically, if you can survive the missions easily and are cruising through them, keep cranking it up by one difficulty level until this is no longer the case.
Better to kill enemies outside: No. End of mission XP can be a big help, and you don't have to spend time searching for enemies in the level range that you want. Missions are generally better for advancing your character.
Good Power Pools: Fitness will probably help you a lot (you'll be going for the tier 4 power: edit -> meant the power Stamina, of course). Other than that, it's up to you. A travel power is usually a good idea. Other than that, it depends on your build to see what you might need.
Are AE missions any good: It REALLY depends on the arc. I've played some really good ones, and some REALLY bad ones. They vary depending on how much effort went into making them.
Hope these help!
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
Challenge level -
Whatever you're comfortable with. Expect it to vary for some missions - you may *want* to drop it on occasion, and raise it on others.
Better to kill outside -
Rarely, though it can be fun. Inside missions, of course, you're getting half debt (not that debt matters these days.) And of course, missions give completion XP.
Specific skills -
Depends on AT.
AE missions -
Some are good, some aren't. Custom critters hvae a tendancy to be rough.
You say you're not interested in a mastermind - though a Thug/Poison is fun to solo AVs with. >.> Stalkers are not... exactly scrappers. Brutes are probably closer. Stalkers, while they can (and should) scrap, tend to be tighter builds, and work in their assassin strikes (and placates) as they go. Dominators... you mention a plant, which is great solo (I was cleaning out even con to +2 Scrapyarders who were following the blue guy for a while on mine.) Mind/Fire is absolutely nasty, as well.
Pretty much any class is doable. Some will be more solo friendly than others - and don't forget dual builds, which can help quite a bit (or do next to nothing, in sets that have quite a few "must have" powers.)
I guess the main question is... what do YOU want to do?
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Good Power Pools: Fitness will probably help you a lot (you'll be going for the tier 4 power: fitness). Other than that, it's up to you. A travel power is usually a good idea. Other than that, it depends on your build to see what you might need.
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To clarify, Aett means the tier 4 power in the Fitness pool. The power itself is called Stamina, and it greatly improves your endurance recovery (blue bar).
Most players take Stamina. It's not essential. You can get by without it, and some character types don't need it. But most folks swear by it. 'course, this ain't a solo-specific tip and you might already know this by now.
@Acyl
VIRTUE
Blue: Realpolitik, Leading Lady, Glass Lass, Superball, Alec Kazam
Red: Battery Acid, Obsolete, Bugfix
I don't think I've ever seen a 'Soloing Guide' - mainly because it could never be specific enough to handle everyone's need.
*What challenge level for missions? Whatever you can handle. Start with the Basic, if you feel Really Awesome, bump it up 1 notch so you fight more things, or 2 notches if you want to fight things of a higher level.
*Better to just kill mobs outside? You might get more XP at a steadier pace that way, as long as you find enough things of your appropriate level. However, the downsides of that are:
- Other people interfere with you
- No mission complete bonuses
- Larger debt earned in street sweeping vs missions
*What specific other skills are a must have if any? (not talking about the basics, just skills that shine if your soloing from the power pool). Don't really get what you mean here. Do you mean 'Skills' like in learning Aggro radius/behavior, or 'Skills' as in "useful/Cool Powers to take from Power pools"?
*AE missions, they good? They can be good. Some can be harder than your basic missions, since a lot of people build for a variety of things you don't see normally. Plus, you then earn tickets for rewards, which some people hate dealing with. On average though, I hear (it 'feels') like the XP is higher there.
Soloing isn't that difficult. The main difficulty comes from within - learning what YOU specifically are capable of. That could easily vary from character type to character type, and even from Day to Day, depending on a lot of different things.
Learn what your Powers do, and use all of them. If one power seems useless/weak, find out what it is used for. Ask people here about it. There are very few Useless Powers out there. Some need to be slotted to work right, some just need you to learn how they work and what they do.
Pay Attention to your surroundings. Needs 5 second break? Run around a corner, and break Line of Sight while keeping them targetted. You will 'see' them approach, and that might give you the time you need to get organized.
Don't be afraid to RUN AWAY if you feel overwhelmed.
Ask questions. There is a 'Help' tab in game. Lots of people with nothing else to do will be happy to discuss things with you.
One final bit of advice? Don't be afraid to try something new. if you fail, and lose, at least you tried.
My memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
"The tip of a shoelace is called an aglet, its true purpose is sinister." The Question
Haha...thanks for pointing out my error there.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
* What challenge level for missions?
Whatever you can handle at a reasonable speed. Note that some challenge levels give you more enemies, others give you a regular amount, just harder enemies. A character with a lot of single target attacks may do better against smaller numbers of tough foes, while one with more AoE attacks may prefer larger crowds of weaker opponents.
* Better to just kill mobs outside?
Not usually. As others have pointed out, missions (and story arcs) give bonus XP, and you only suffer half debt from dying indoors.
* What specific other skills are a must-have?
Pool powers generally depend on what your other powers are - they're generally stuff people take to round out builds, not must haves in and of themselves. That said, most people take the Fitness pool (for Stamina, sometimes Health).
If you're playing a character without mez protection, note that the Leaping pool has Combat Jumping (Immobilize protection) and Acrobatics (Hold/Knockback protection). The defensive toggles from the Fighting pool are good on some builds. Aid Self from the Medicine pool is also a very nice heal - it can be interrupted, but that's not a huge deal for some characters. Particularly defense-based Brutes and Stalkers (SR, Shield, Nin, etc).
A lot of builds can benefit from the +recharge boost given by Hasten (in the Speed pool).
Of course, there's a lot of useful stuff, but you have a limited number of powers on each character. That's where personal choice comes in. Pick what's most useful to you, within constraints.
* AE missions, they good?
Some are. Some suck. Probably not the answer you're looking for, but it's true. Mostly I play stuff folks have recommended to me personally, or stuff I've seen advertised/reviewed on the forums.
@Acyl
VIRTUE
Blue: Realpolitik, Leading Lady, Glass Lass, Superball, Alec Kazam
Red: Battery Acid, Obsolete, Bugfix
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Haha...thanks for pointing out my error there.
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Heh, hope you didn't think I was nitpicking or anything. Didn't really mean anything by it, just thought it was worth clarifying.
@Acyl
VIRTUE
Blue: Realpolitik, Leading Lady, Glass Lass, Superball, Alec Kazam
Red: Battery Acid, Obsolete, Bugfix
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Haha...thanks for pointing out my error there.
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Heh, hope you didn't think I was nitpicking or anything. Didn't really mean anything by it, just thought it was worth clarifying.
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You got nothing to worry about from me. It was an error that could have confused the OP. You were right to point it out.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
Well, you're right, I don't think there is a guide to soloing. I don't know if I can come up with a guide, but I'm a pretty "hardcore" soloer, so maybe I can offer some advice. You are talking about exclusively redside, right, you don't want me to list any hero ATs?
Let me start with your questions, I guess...
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*What challenge level for missions?
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This depends. In general, I stay with the first difficulty (Villainous) until level 10. I then bump it up to second (Relentless? I think) so I will get Bosses in my missions. Some people go for much higher difficulty right off the bat, though, to level quickly while there is no debt, and try higher difficulties past 10 as well.
I wait until level 22 and SOs to bump up my difficulty any further, though. At that point, I usually go to either 3, 4 or 5 depending on how well the AT solos. (I totally forget the rank names, but 3 and 5 will be less foes, while 4 will be more, which is nice for Masterminds and Brutes, who like lots of enemies instead of a few strong ones)
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*Better to just kill mobs outside?
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NO!!! I mean, uh, no, don't do that. 
You will get a lot more XP by doing missions, even if you just run Paper Missions over and over. In fact, this is a great way to make XP fast if you don't want to bother with story arcs and running around from Contact to Contact. (90% of the time when you take a new Paper Mission, the door is within a few feet of your last one)
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*What specific other skills are a must have if any? (not talking about the basics, just skills that shine if your soloing from the power pool)
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I don't think anything really shines. Air Superiority is always a great Pool attack. If you've been playing a long time, Vet Reward attacks (Sands of Mu, Nemesis Staff) are great for getting damage up in the early levels, especially for MMs, Doms, and Corrs. (Although the Dom buffs may make this less of a big difference)
As usual, you want to get your travel power fairly early, and pick up Stamina. (Except for MMs) You might skip your travel power, though, if you pick up the jet pack and jump pack in the first two Mayhem Missions. I'll also add that taking a power like Combat Jumping or Hurdle early on, like pre-level 10, can help you get over obstacles you can't yet use a travel power to get across. This seems to be less of a problem red side, though. (Walls in the Rogue Isles seem to be either low enough to jump more readily than in Paragon City, or so high that you'll never get over it without Super Jump, and sometimes not even then)
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*AE missions, they good?
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They seem okay to me, although I don't know if I'd rely solely on them. Some have suggested creating characters to run only in AE missions, though, and I may try that.
Now, let's see if I can offer some more specific advice:
Brutes - Brutes are like Scrappers, easy to solo. The big difference is leveraging Fury, if you're not good at it, you'll die. The best thing to do is to pick up low damage, fast recharging attacks early on, and use them with Brawl to build Fury. You want to slot for ENDURANCE, not damage, as Fury will give you more of a boost than Enhancements will. (Of course, you also want to slot for Accuracy, as with any starting character, although it actually doesn't matter to Fury if you miss, so you could slot your Fury building attacks with End, and your big hitters with Accuracy, so you'll be sure to hit when Fury is high)
It's much easier to concentrate on attacks when levelling a Brute since you get them earlier than Tankers do. Don't think a Brute's a Tanker, though, that excess HP will basically be used up by the damage you've got to take to build Fury, so think like a Scrapper. Build your Fury cautiously, conserving End, then use it as long as you can to steamroller through spawns. If you take this too far, it's called "SMASH! Addiction".
Stalkers - Don't think of Stalkers too much like Scrappers. While they are, the addition of stealth makes them much more capable in the one on one situation, and much less dangerous against groups. You can scrap, a lot more than you could when CoV first came out, but still, it's a different strategy. You don't want to run in without thinking, you want to scope out the terrain, see what's where, and make sure you won't be surprised by someone hitting you from behind. I also like breaking line of sight so I can leap out for an ambush as a foe follows me, and using Placate. (In other words, get a free second Critical instead of just depending on Assassin Strike)
Corruptor - Corruptors aren't really that much different from Defenders, although you get the bonus of Scourge just when you need it most, when the fight is nearly over, and you're running out of End. Corruptors are just as soloable as the most soloable of Defenders, especially since many of the options that are hard for Defenders to solo (like FF) aren't available to Corruptors.
Dominator - The Dominator is a tough AT to solo. Like the Stalker, it calls for a specific style, and you've got to be on top of it, constantly holding your foes so they don't hurt you. This is one of the ATs you'd want to solo on difficulty 3 or 5. Never mind the potential to use AoE holds on more foes, what you want is to hold down as many foes as you can with your single target holds. Using an AoE at the wrong moment can get you killed.
There are really two types of Dominators, those with a damage dealing Secondary, like Fire Assault (which is more AoE and ranged than most other Doms) or Electric, and those that have Power Boost in the Secondary, like Ice and Energy. And Psi is kind of a third option. Power Boost doesn't give the Dom more damage, but it does make his holds stronger, so that makes Ice and Energy a bit more control oriented.
Typically, you will have to use a "Blapper" strategy with a Dom, holding down an opponent, then closing to melee to use your most powerful attacks. It should get better once the adjustments are made to Doms to give them more damage out of Domination, but even now, once you get Domination you do massive damage, particularly in the early levels. What you want to do is "toy" with your foes, use Stalker like strategies to single them out and build up Domination, then start wasting whole spawns once you do have it.
Don't be like some Dom players and refuse to use Domination at all. It can be helpful to save it for the Boss, particularly if you know you're coming to the end of a mission, but you should use it several times at the beginning. If you do reach a Boss without Domination (or get defeated, which will cause you to lose Domination) you might try going outside the mission and hunting foes to build your bar back up.
And don't underestimate the effect of refilling your End bar and gaining mez protection when in Domination. Both are extremely helpful.
Masterminds - For people who find MMs boring, or want to solo through the early levels, I have three words for you. Take your attacks. You heard me. Respec out of them at 26 when you get your last henchman, but between 1 and 10 you are doing almost as much damage as a Blaster with your attacks, and from 18 to 20 you will need as much damage as you can muster, minor damage from attacks aside. You'll feel more active, instead of just watching your henchmen fight, and they aren't going to get the really big attacks until you get Upgrade at 32. Certainly if you plan to solo all the time, you will need all the damage you can get to get through the 20s.
And as I mentioned above, Vet Reward attacks can make a HUGE difference in the damage output of an MM. (Not so much Pool attacks, although you can pick one if you want to be more melee oriented)
AE doesn't use patrol xp, correct?
www.paragonwiki.com is a great source of information for this game.
New or returning to the game? Want advice from experienced players who want to help YOU?
The Mentor Project: Part of the New Player Council.
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AE doesn't use patrol xp, correct?
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Correct
Paper missions are randomly generated, giving one-shot villains, and a build to the mayhem missions, which can be filled with enemies, and temp powers.
Regular contacts provide multi-mission arcs, which may involve more travel time, but provide end-of-arc xp and merit rewards, and more involved stories.
AE missions can be all over the board, no travel time, mostly ticket rewards, and can range from easy to stupidly hard.
I'd suggest moving between them as your fancy strikes.
I usually try to get the mayhem mission for each level bracket, as the temp power rewards are pretty handy.
Overall, I do what seems like fun or is interesting at the time. I think there's enough variety to avoid grind.
www.paragonwiki.com is a great source of information for this game.
New or returning to the game? Want advice from experienced players who want to help YOU?
The Mentor Project: Part of the New Player Council.
I've been searching the forums, googling it, and haven't found anything worth a dang.
I play with my wife and a buddy(finally got her into an MMO after 6yrs of playing them) and this was simplistic enough for her to get into. But when we aren't playing, I'm attempting to level up another toon.
I'm playing villians right now, and Mastermind just doesn't appeal to me(I've made two so far) But all other classes are up in the for graps other the than my main of a dominator Plant/Thorns as that is my main.
I've tried everything but a stalker, as that seems to much like a scrapper on the hero side, and I have a mid level one from a long time ago, but maybe thats it.
I think the real problem is what can I expect. For intstance:
*What challenge level for missions?
*Better to just kill mobs outside?
*What specific other skills are a must have if any? (not talking about the basics, just skills that shine if your soloing from the power pool)
*AE missions, they good?
I'm sure I missed a few things, but really there isn't what I saw a solo guide to the Rogue Isles and beyond. Now I'm not going to be exclusively soloing 100% of the time, but I'd venture 80% of it, so I really only care about my effectiveness outside a group.
I could use a few tips from some Vets for sure here.