Less intense play
By
Ang_Rui_Shen,
Posted on: 2009-05-28 22:52 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
Controlling lets you set the tempo, so you might try that. A shield-type buff secondary (force fields, sonic, or thermal) will allow lots of buffing downtime on a team. You'll be able to solo slowly but comfortably while still making contributions to any team you find yourself on.
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Anything/Force Fields Mastermind would probably be the most laid-back character you can build.
5 of the 9 powers in your primary (the summons and upgrades) need only be used at the start of a mission or in very difficult fights when your pets die, and 3 of the remaining 4 powers (the attacks) are not very useful, particularly in the later levels, and are frequently skipped entirely by MM players.
In your secondary, your 3 buff powers are a toggle (Dispersion Bubble), and 2 single-target buffs Deflection Shield and Insulation Shield) that only need to be used once every 4 minutes. 3 of the other 6 powers are toggles (Personal Force Field, Repulsion Field, and Force Bubble), used strategically if used at all. Force Bolt helps position enemies more precisely than is possible with Repulsion Field or Force Bubble, or to keep a single enemy out of action, Repulsion Bomb helps keep multiple enemies out of action (AoE KD) and does some damage, and Detention Field will keep a single target out of any action for 30s (phase shift).
Personally, I find /FF Masterminds boring as I just watch my pets go to town, rather than really participating much, but going to the extreme may help you find a comfortable spot you enjoy the most. Or you may end up loving /FF MMs 
Edit: For the primary, I strongly recommend Thugs, Mercenaries, or Robotics. Necromancy and Ninjas are both melee-centric pets, which require more micromanaging in order to have them perform at their best. For the ranged pets, you can generally just leave the pets in follow/defensive, aggro an enemy, and let the pets take care of things, rather than trying to direct their every move.
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The most passive character I can think of is a FF defender, probably followed by a sonic defender then maybe a cold domination defender.
Villain side, it's probably MMs, though depending on the secondary, they can be extremely active as well too. You definitely won't like brutes - they're worse than scrappers.
Most active hero side: scrappers, blasters (except devices), tanks
Most active villain side: brutes
Power sets that are methodical: /traps and /devices, stalkers, trick arrow
I'd suggest something like a cold/sonic or cold/ice defender. Very powerful, brings alot to a team and does not require super reflexes. 
FF is a great set and it could present the slower pace for you.
It was recently said about FF:
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2. You ARE a buffbot.
You can provide most of the benefit of being a Force Fielder with four powers, in 25% of your time. Those four powers are: Dispersion Bubble, Deflection Field, Insulation Field, and Maneuvers (from the Leadership Pool.) If the whole team is bubbled, within the radius of the two toggles, and you are not stunned, dead, or in Personal Force Field, you have raised all of them to the Defense softcap from about level 17 on. Blasters are ten times tougher, Scrappers and Tanks are between two and ten times tougher [depending] and anyone up close has mez protection and you don't have to lift a finger beyond that. The only one on the team who is NOT a tank is you. Let me reiterate: If you do NOTHING besides keep the team bubbled and stay close to the guy on point, you are a good Force Field Defender.
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OTOH, your team is so safe, they have a tendency to move through missions at a pretty fast clip, since they can be unconcerned about enemy attacks.
Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
One thing that surprised the heck out of me was that my favorite Tanker actually became much more survivable when I slowed down the pace of his attacks. Sure it takes me longer to run through scenarios with him than with my Scrappers, but it's just as fun, at least for me.
Go Dominator.
Don't get me wrong, I like (most) masterminds, but some *can* get very busy - to where, while your character might not be doing much, YOU are trying to herd cats covered in grease on a floor full of ball bearings.
You want to be able to stop everyting, control the flow of battle? Controllers and Dominators. And to get just sickening amounts of control, go Earth. Earth/Ice - where your attacks themselves have a slow component - might just be the ticket.
I'd suggest looking at an Ice/TA or Earth/TA controller. Both of them get as close to turn-based play as is practically possible in CoX. Admittedly, that comes with the downside of not being the fastest leveler on earth until you get your pet.
I've got an Earth/Storm Controller, and unless you happen to be on a seriously hyper team, it is almost turn based play.
Open with one AoE stun, then hold an immob the group til they die. Next group, open with one of the two AoE knockdowns and hold and immob til they die. Next group, open with the other AoE knockdown and hold and immob til they die. Next group, open with your AoE stun again, since it will be back up. You still haven't used your AoE hold, or your PBAoE stun. This is all possible before you get you get the poo golem. You still have Thunderstorm at 38 too. Best part is, solo plays more or less like teamed. In the mid 20s (on a team) you can activate one power every 20 seconds or so and still be a brutally effective Controller.
The downside to it is that most of those powers are targeted location AoEs, so you have to click the point on the map where you want them centered. Earth has three (4 if you count the pet) and Storm has 3, I think (not sure about T-Storm).
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ta/archery def slowest ride to 50 ever. And you get the added bonus of hearing bitchin from everybody who feels like sending you tells like why no heals.
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ta/archery def slowest ride to 50 ever. And you get the added bonus of hearing bitchin from everybody who feels like sending you tells like why no heals.
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Take the Medicine pool and spam them with Stimulant. The Call of the Sandman proc in Poison Gas Arrow will give you a healing arrow. Of course it only heals you. 
For more relaxed play i second Masterminds. As long as you're soloing you can set your own pace.
Bots/anything can work pretty well since they prefer to attack at range.
Mind or Plant controllers with Storm or Force Field work pretty well IMO.
Storm, Cold and Force Field Defenders can also be played in a laid back manner.
Cold Domination and Storm Summoning both have AoE debuff toggles that slow enemy movement and attack rate. My Cold/Archery has fun picking off enemies at a leisurely pace as they run towards her in slow motion.
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i make stuff...
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Controlling lets you set the tempo, so you might try that. A shield-type buff secondary (force fields, sonic, or thermal) will allow lots of buffing downtime on a team. You'll be able to solo slowly but comfortably while still making contributions to any team you find yourself on.
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I pretty much agree with this, with the caveat that there are certain controller combos that are very intense. I love my Mind/Kin to death, but I'm exhausted as hell after running a task force with her. FF and Sonic are great because they're proactive, so you don't need to worry about reaction times. Defenders will get the better defense values, but if you wanna spice it up a bit, try a combo like Ill/FF.
Victory: @Brimstone Bruce
Brimstone Bruce (lvl50 Stone/Fire Tanker) Broadside Bruce (lvl50 Shield/WM Tanker)
Ultionis (lvl50 Dark/Dark Defender) Cortex Crusher (lvl50 Mind/Kin Controller)
Patronox (lvl50 Kat/Dark Scrapper) Harbinger Mk.7 (lvl50 Bots/FF MM)
NightShift for Life.
AR/anything, whether Corr or Blaster.
Slug, Burst... three seconds, burst, wait for it, slug... take a deep breath, burst...
Slowest single-target chain in the game.
I second trying a Controller of some kind or an FF defender.
Also, don't overlook Ice Blasters. You can play pretty aggressively if you want to, but you have scads of controllerish powers that let you stroll through most missions fairly unconcernedly.
I support the idea of a /FF mastermind.
Very effective, but mine felt so much like I was watching someone else play that I deleted him (before we could buy slots that was).
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I would say go Ice/Force Field controller. Ice's inherent ability is -Recharge, which slows enemy attacks way, way down. Once you've capped the -Recharge, enemies attack x4 less often. Ice is also unique in that its most effective control power, Arctic Air, is a toggle. During most fights, you open with Shiver (a huge cone), then run into melee and (if you're a /FF)... mostly stand there and watch enemies succumb to Arctic Air, firing single target holds at the stragglers. On the Force Field side, you will have to replenish bubbles every so often, but for the most part most of your powers are passive toggles as well. once you get Dispersion Bubble you're also largely immune to the number one Ice/ killer, which is getting mezzed (hence dropping toggles). Soloing will be extremely rough until you get a pet, though.
If you're looking for something similar but slightly more aggressive, consider Ice/Sonic.
Dominators. Their secondary can be pretty scrapperish so it won't be completely foreign to you and your controls will allow you to set the pace of battle.
i'd have to second the motions on making a thugs/ff mastermind.
you really dont need to do anything except refresh your bubbles every 4 minutes and occaisonally MAYBE use aid other - and you give up no team viability.
should you end up enjoying the AT and want something a tiny bit more active - but not required to be that active - then graduate up to thugs/traps which is my personal favorite.
When you say "slow reaction time" are you saying that you'd like a build that didn't require alot of clicking and quick decision making?
If that case, I'd say scrapper is your best bet. Alot of other builds like controllers and defenders can require you to make alot of quick decisions as to what to do next in given situations.
FF defenders for example...You gotta keep the shileds on everyone every four minutes. Personally, I think that require a good amount of attention and clicking. Especially on large teams. And don't forget about blasting inbetween bubble buffs.
If you have slow reaction times, I would venture to say that the worst build you could pick would be a support toon. Many scrappers have "fire and foget" secondaires. Once you turn on those defenses you just [target nearest] 1-2-3-4 repeat.
Lately I've played a Mind/Fire Dominator a bit, and that is.. very relaxing, really. Just for the heck of it, I'll go out to the middle of nowhere and street sweep.
Mass Hypnosis'd. Okay, ready to start the fight at my leisure.
Mesmerize- some nice damage, and that guy is out of the fight for the next sixty seconds if I don't mess with him.
Okay, now Hold the toughest guy in the spawn. If it's a boss, follow up the hold with Mesmerize. And then hold again when it's back up.
Okay, now he's really really held. Set him on fire.
Oh, the Mass Hypnosised guys are about to wake up. I'll confuse a couple, for good measure.
It's just such a relaxed, free-form experience. I really love it.
Based on what's been said Force Fields seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. Hero Stats can help me keep up on timers and that nice macro will make buffing as easy as clicking and pressing G twice.
Now in terms of what I want t go with this I'm not sure what other power set I want. If I go with a defender I could play like a second rate blaster. Controllers look like a bit of fun, Mind Control and Illusion Control look like a bundle of fun to me. Of course I could also play the other side and unleash an army of Bots! One other thing that I'm thinking about trying is a Trick Arrow/Archery Defender, not quite the most original concept, but hey. Well, once I get a ton of toons running again I'll see where it goes. Thanks!
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Based on what's been said Force Fields seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. Hero Stats can help me keep up on timers and that nice macro will make buffing as easy as clicking and pressing G twice.
Now in terms of what I want t go with this I'm not sure what other power set I want. If I go with a defender I could play like a second rate blaster. Controllers look like a bit of fun, Mind Control and Illusion Control look like a bundle of fun to me. Of course I could also play the other side and unleash an army of Bots! One other thing that I'm thinking about trying is a Trick Arrow/Archery Defender, not quite the most original concept, but hey. Well, once I get a ton of toons running again I'll see where it goes. Thanks!
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TA/A is a fun combo, but is quite active. Every power you have is a clickie, so there's no buff and forget or even toggles.
There's nothing slower than an Earth/Earth Tanker. ;-)
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Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
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Just be a blaster, and use Aim and BU. That will set the pace nicely for you. Anything but AR/ and /Dev because they lack both Aim and BU.
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So I just recently got my Scrapper, my first character, to 50 and it took less time than I thought. Looking back on my experience I think I have pin-pointed some things about myself and the way I play, and I'm hoping to make my next character better suit myself. Maybe after 3 or 4 characters I'll have it just right
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So after scrapping for all that time I realize that scrapping isn't my strong suit. I can pul it off, but it is in no way optimal. For reasons I care not to bore you with I have been blessed with really slow reaction times and a host of other things that effect running my scrapper. Don't get my wrong, he did teach me how the game works and I love the game, but he's just a little too fast for me, especially when a kin puts me on SB *shudder*
so for my next character I was looking for something a little slower. I don't think I'll ever get to my favorite speed, turn-based, but I can try. I have no direction for my next character so I am open to anything, I still haven't started a hero at Galaxy City and I have never run a villain so it should be new content (at least some of it) for me anyhow.
Is there anyway a person like me can turn down the speed? I just want to get away from all the running and button mashing. Don't even get me started on PvP...
Thanks for reading and putting up with me