I will give you the horrible suggestion of trying them all.
Dang game is so addictive...
Unlike classic MMOs where roles are vital a good player can actually use a variety of ATs to fill roles. And the villains are very much not role players (though they can be roleplayers).
You need to decide what it is you would like to do.
I find the two most role filling types, tankers and healing defenders, to be the most boring to play while I find the pet summoners (controllers, masterminds and dominators) to be the most fun but blasters, scrappers, stalkers and brutes are also a ton of fun.
So, what is it you would like to spend your time doing?
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
You can pretty much play anything you want. I don't think there are too many or not enough of any particular AT. I've not experianced a situation where you couldn't find anything of a particular AT to fill a needed role. No healers here, they're defenders or controllers. Most defenders/many trollers can heal, but that's not the role.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
[ QUOTE ]
Heya, I'm just starting CoH and I'm thinking over what archetype to choose. I was wondering if there are any that are way overplayed or some that are generally underplayed.
The reason I ask is that used to play World of Warcraft; often times there were never enough healers or way to many damage dealers, and I don't want to be on the wrong end of that sort of thing here.
So, if anyone could give me some advice on what would be best to play, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks.
[/ QUOTE ]
First things first, Welcome to the Game and the Forums! Glad to have you here.
Second, yes there are some overplayed and underplayed but, not in the way you are thinking. This game does not require a holy trinity of tank, healer, damage. Almost any team make up can do any task. So, in certain contexts there are FOTM builds but, really anything can be played.
Since you are looking for what to play, we might be able to help there. What type of character do you like? Like it up close and personal, blast from a distance? Support or damage? Want pets to do your bidding? Like to mez the enemy? Want to be a hero or villain?
--Rad
EDIT: Oops typo
/whereami:
First off, don't be afraid to roll multiple characters. This is a very alt friendly game.
Most ATs are played pretty evenly (EATs being special aren't counted here 
), I'd really just look over all of them and roll whatever seems interesting to you. Also, the whole Holy Trinity (Tank + DPS + Healer) thing isn't really accurate for this game, not to mention that Buffs/Debuffs are extremely good, with 'heals' generally the least effective form of buffing.
For newbie friendly characters, Scrappers and Brutes are good choices, but really anything can be played first. Don't be afraid to experiement, try out whatever seems interesting to you... there's very few gimped powersets in this game (and since Energy Assault now rocks, I'd be hard pressed to come up with one that sucks).
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ShadowNate
;_; ?!?! What the heck is wrong with you, my god, I have never been so confused in my life!
|
Hah. By the time I finish typing this, there will already be five better-worded answers (edit - only four! Go me!), but I've finished my work for the morning and I'm bored.
CoH rather violates the archetype centrism of games like WoW. There are some flavor of the month-type power combos that blossom into "overplayed" status for a few months, but by and large, there aren't any "gotta haves" or holy trinities to worry about, despite what some worry-wart team leaders might think.
Just go with what looks like fun.
And oh yeah - welcome to the game.
MA arcs: #1669, "A New Breed Rising"
Short Answer: Play what you find fun.
All ATs are capable of soloing. All are useful on teams. Some are better than others, some are late bloomers. The dual build feature means you can have a solo build and a team build.
For your first character, I'd suggest a good solo-er, like a scrapper for heroes, or a brute for villains. They tend to be easier to learn (smash! smash! SMASH!) so you can spend some of your learning brainpower on how the game works in general.
But don't let that stop you. The description of a controller makes you salivate? Go for it.
Longer: Rather than a "healing" role, think about a "support" role. Buffing/debuffing in this game is very significant, and a team can benefit from someone who can heal, OR prevents the enemy from hitting in the first place, OR increases the damage output to the point where the enemy doesn't live long enough to really hurt anyone. In fact, I've heard scrappers or blasters called "Pro-active healers." They kill everything before it hurts you.
My impression is that heroside, good defenders and controllers are in slightly short supply. Note that being a defender or controller won't give you a pass from me for being dumb, or constantly AFK or a jerk.
I'd rather you play something you enjoy, rather than something you tolerate because you think it's necessary.
That being said, since this game is enjoyable at all levels, you don't need to pick a main, and race them to 50. Makes lots of characters, experiment with ATs, powersets and builds. Did I mention the dual builds feature?
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.
Going to reinstate what everyone else says: Throw everything about WoW out the window, this game does things differently.
I feel I should say, healing is pretty much lumped in with buffs in this game- even the 'healing sets' (Empathy and Pain Domination) only have a few healing powers, the rest being strong buffs.
A team consisting entirely of Defenders and Controllers is not only viable, but can be very, very powerful.
There always seems to be too many of whatever AT I'm playing at the time.
Seriously, if I'm playing a Defender, I get on teams of all Defenders and Controllers. As a Scrapper, there were many times where I was on all melee teams made up of Scrappers and Tanks.
Add me to your global friends @Specwar7 and just pick an AT different from whatever I'm playing and you'll be fine.
Learn modesty, if you desire knowledge. A highland would never be irrigated by river." (Kanz ol-Haghayegh)
I'd suggest something that is multi-faceted, such that you can fill in for any archetype that the team may feel is "missing". Try an Illusion/Rad or an Illusion/Storm Controller.
First off, Illusion/* has 2 sets of pets, so right there, you are your own team. One set can tank and the second can blast. You can solo practically anything in the game. Well, you might need to pick up some tactics and skills before you try taking on some of the giant monsters and AVs, but otherwise, you're good. Thus anyone else on your team, you can just consider them to be your support.
Both secondaries have an ally heal. That can be your concession as a team oriented player. Note: */storm doesn't have a self-heal, but if you play your character properly, you shouldn't be getting hurt much at all. */Rad has an ally rez too if you feel the need to pick it up.
*/Storm has several additional non-mobile pet -ike summons that can disable whole groups of foes and then rough 'em up. */Rad has several significant debuffs, including two that I think of as a defense based shield and a resistance based shield for yourself and the team whose gimmick is that you have to anchor them on a foe. Stand next to your anchored foe for best effect. Combine these with the pets from Illusion/* and you can tank for your team. In fact, if you're not showing up the team's tank, you're not playing your character properly.
Teams are the number one killer of soloists.
Wow, quick replies! Thanks a million; I was hoping that you all would say something like that. I'm sick of feeling guilty for only being damage when there are no healers or thanks around.
I'm a little late to this but yeah, what they all said.
Buffs and debuffs are a huge part of this game. I came from Asheron's Call where buffs lasted for 60 minutes and unattended buff bots were accepted to the point that the devs created a special place for them to exist. It's not like that here. A good buff will last you four minutes. Some only last a few seconds.
You could find yourself on a team with a FF defender, a sonic defender, and a Trick Arrow Defender and be bothered by the fact that there is not a single heal in the bunch. Then you hit the first spawn. It literally wouldn't matter what you played as long as hit stuff.
There are times that one particular set may be desirable, but I can't think of any situation where any two characters would find a regular mission impossible. In the later game, there are some sets that don't fare well against certain foes, but just about any type of teammate will offset this.
Also, see the guide in my Sig. It's about 400 pages of stuff for new players, but it's laid out to make it easy to find stuff.
My first short story (detective fiction) came out in Jan-2012. Other stories and books to follow, I hope. Because of "real writing". COH was a big part of that happening.
[ QUOTE ]
Wow, quick replies! Thanks a million; I was hoping that you all would say something like that. I'm sick of feeling guilty for only being damage when there are no healers or thanks around.
[/ QUOTE ]
Note: Newer players and some of the players you'll find in these "meow" or "blob" farms in AE still suffer from the mentality that all teams MUST have a tanker, healer, and damage.
So you will occasionally see people that say "We need heal0r!!!11!!"
Just smile and pat them on the head.
*Opens mouth*
*Closes it*
What they said.
What they've said really is correct. If you see a tell in Broadcast saying "level 20 team looking for members, need a Healer", that's a pretty sure sign of someone who doesn't know what they are doing. Healing isn't the end-all and be-all of damage mitigation, especially since it's reactive mitigation rather than preventative. Often times on Villain side I'll be running around on teams with *no* character with Healing ability, or I end up with my Brute (read: Light Tank + Solid DPS hybrid) being the strongest "Healer" on the team because that melee character has the Medicine Power Pool ability Aid Other.
Others have suggested you try a Scrapper or a Brute for the simplest, most self-sufficient initial runs through the levels. I'll echo that, but add some comments about Endurance. Endurance is the resource you spend to activate all of your various powers. Unlike HP, total amount of End does not increase with level; what you have to use at lv1 is what you'll have to power your abilities at lv50. Management of Endurance is a skill that you must master. Early on it's very easy to run out of Endurance or nearly-so every few spawns. As you gain enhancement slots to your powers you can start to add Endurance Reducer enhancements and at lv20 you can take the Stamina power in Fitness Pool (assuming you've taken two powers from that Pool already) that will increase the rate at which Endurance refills. In the later game it's possible to rig up your character so that you basically never run out of Endurance (unless something hits you with a power that takes it away 
) and can run at full speed all the time.
I mention all of the above because Scrappers, and even moreso Brutes, tend to be Endurance eaters at lower levels. They attack very quickly and often have "Toggle" powers that form their base-protections but eat up a constant amount of Endurance while active. If you play one of these characters and feel like you are "always exhausted" in the early game, don't worry. It gets better.
I will also say that, like the absence of the Holy Trinity of Classes, this game starts at lv1 - not at lv50. The leveling process is not a Developer instituted Time Sink designed to keep you subscribed for longer before you get to the "real" game. This game follows a business model of being very "casual" and making you want to keep subscribed because you enjoyed the content in and of itself.
Also, the Exemplar/Malefactor/Side-Kick/Lackey system, the Ouroboros system, and auto-scaling of mission instances to your level mean that any group of friends can bring characters of any level and still play together. Furthermore, you don't "outlevel" content and have it forever beneath you.
Take your time, have fun, there's no need to rush to the level cap. Since there is no Holy Trinity in the game, what's important is that you understand the strengths and limitations of all of your powers. That kind of knowledge only comes with trial-and-error experience. If you Power Level (at Architect Entertainment or elsewhere), you're likely to pick up some very bad habits and it will be obvious to others you team with that you don't know what you are doing.
Welcome to the Game 
.
What has been said so far is right on. With the variety of buff/debuff classes that are available, toons that strictly heal are not needed for 99% of the encounters.
For the most part Veteran players tend to go with more of a mix of buff/debuff and forgo the true healing classes to a great deal. The group I run with has absolutely no set mix for any of the late game content that we run. Last night we ran a villain task force with nothing to hold aggro. We controlled it all with a dominator and a couple of corruptors.
To sum it all up, to do any almost any encounter with a good group, you don't need a specific mix. Knowing your powersets strength's and weakness's will get you through.
Play what you think you'll enjoy. If you don't like it, roll another. You have 132+ slots to fill up. Don't be shy, roll another alt.
Tech Support Rule #1 - They will lie to you. Usually intentionally.
[ QUOTE ]
*Opens mouth*
*Closes it*
What they said.
What they've said really is correct. If you see a tell in Broadcast saying "level 20 team looking for members, need a Healer", that's a pretty sure sign of someone who doesn't know what they are doing. Healing isn't the end-all and be-all of damage mitigation, especially since it's reactive mitigation rather than preventative. Often times on Villain side I'll be running around on teams with *no* character with Healing ability, or I end up with my Brute (read: Light Tank + Solid DPS hybrid) being the strongest "Healer" on the team because that melee character has the Medicine Power Pool ability Aid Other.
Others have suggested you try a Scrapper or a Brute for the simplest, most self-sufficient initial runs through the levels. I'll echo that, but add some comments about Endurance. Endurance is the resource you spend to activate all of your various powers. Unlike HP, total amount of End does not increase with level; what you have to use at lv1 is what you'll have to power your abilities at lv50. Management of Endurance is a skill that you must master. Early on it's very easy to run out of Endurance or nearly-so every few spawns. As you gain enhancement slots to your powers you can start to add Endurance Reducer enhancements and at lv20 you can take the Stamina power in Fitness Pool (assuming you've taken two powers from that Pool already) that will increase the rate at which Endurance refills. In the later game it's possible to rig up your character so that you basically never run out of Endurance (unless something hits you with a power that takes it away ) and can run at full speed all the time.
I mention all of the above because Scrappers, and even moreso Brutes, tend to be Endurance eaters at lower levels. They attack very quickly and often have "Toggle" powers that form their base-protections but eat up a constant amount of Endurance while active. If you play one of these characters and feel like you are "always exhausted" in the early game, don't worry. It gets better.
I will also say that, like the absence of the Holy Trinity of Classes, this game starts at lv1 - not at lv50. The leveling process is not a Developer instituted Time Sink designed to keep you subscribed for longer before you get to the "real" game. This game follows a business model of being very "casual" and making you want to keep subscribed because you enjoyed the content in and of itself.
Also, the Exemplar/Malefactor/Side-Kick/Lackey system, the Ouroboros system, and auto-scaling of mission instances to your level mean that any group of friends can bring characters of any level and still play together. Furthermore, you don't "outlevel" content and have it forever beneath you.
Take your time, have fun, there's no need to rush to the level cap. Since there is no Holy Trinity in the game, what's important is that you understand the strengths and limitations of all of your powers. That kind of knowledge only comes with trial-and-error experience. If you Power Level (at Architect Entertainment or elsewhere), you're likely to pick up some very bad habits and it will be obvious to others you team with that you don't know what you are doing.
Welcome to the Game .
[/ QUOTE ]
agreed. well put
Member of the Hyperion Force
Red side (villains) there is usually a shortage of good healers, mainly because there are so few good heal builds and they are so team dependent (unlike Heros who have a number of healer builds that can also solo well). Blue side I've never seen a healer shortage though.
Dominators and Stalkers are the least played Red side IMO because they both have limitations in a team atmosphere (or at least perceived ones). Brutes and Masterminds are a dime a dozen.
Blue side there seems to be a pretty good mix with Defenders probably the least played due to (perceived?) soloing weaknesses.
Don't think in WoW term though. In an AT you will find that many of the different sets play EXTREMELY differently than the others. So don't think that because you build a Blaster you are all offense. Elec/Cold Blasters have a lot of Control while Fire really is almost all damage. Corruptors can be decent healers or have very lilttle healing at all.
Mostly it is a play between offense and defense. The more of one you get, the less of the other you get.
Welcome to CoH.
----------------------------
You can't please everyone, so lets concentrate on me.
<QR>
OK, I'm going to put in a vote for my favorite AT - the Blaster!
As someone with experience as a damage dealer in WoW, you probably already have experience in determining just where the aggro range is for your foes and how to "lose" it - both of these are the hardest things for baby blasters to learn, so you are ahead of the learning curve.
Blasters are perhaps a bit over-represented in the lower levels, because they start out fast. In the low levels, you have essentially twice the attacks as any other AT - because even your mitigation tools are actually your attack's secondary effects. So the foes go down quickly at level 5-15 or so, compared to your team mates.
The caveat is that when you get into the higher levels, your pregression can slow a lot if you haven't learned to use the mitigating secondary effects of your attacks effectively. If you continue to approach every spawn "guns a-blazing", you will faceplant often in the upper levels. If you learn to slow with Ice effects or KnockBack with Energy, for example, and learn to choose which single foe in a spawn to take out first - you will be fine.
To me, Blasters are a lot more fun because you can't steamroll over stuff in the upper levels, but you can still cause mass carnage with proper team support.
But as an altoholic with 60+ alts, not even close to half Blasters (an amateur compared to some around here) I can also tell you that whatever you choose can be a lot of fun either teamed or solo.
Welcome! See you in-game!
Altoholic - but a Blaster at Heart!
Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon
"You gave us a world where we could fly. I can't thank you enough for that."
[ QUOTE ]
Dominators and Stalkers are the least played Red side IMO because they both have limitations in a team atmosphere (or at least perceived ones). Brutes and Masterminds are a dime a dozen.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually they're rarer because traditionally they sucked . Both ATs were visibly underpowered compared to their peers. That changed for Stalkers over a year ago with an overhaul that buffed just about every aspect of the AT. It changed for Dominators with the revamp in now-Live Issue 15. Both of them are still under-represented just because there have been fewer characters developed over the years for those ATs, but it's not because they are in some way inherently limited for teams. Currently Stalkers are raw killing machines and Dominators...well..now do.
[ QUOTE ]
The caveat is that when you get into the higher levels, your pregression can slow a lot if you haven't learned to use the mitigating secondary effects of your attacks effectively. If you continue to approach every spawn "guns a-blazing", you will faceplant often in the upper levels.
[/ QUOTE ]
Wait. You are saying that there are ways to play that don't involve rushing in and aggroing everything?
BLASPHEMY!!!
Tech Support Rule #1 - They will lie to you. Usually intentionally.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The caveat is that when you get into the higher levels, your pregression can slow a lot if you haven't learned to use the mitigating secondary effects of your attacks effectively. If you continue to approach every spawn "guns a-blazing", you will faceplant often in the upper levels.
[/ QUOTE ]
Wait. You are saying that there are ways to play that don't involve rushing in and aggroing everything?
BLASPHEMY!!!
[/ QUOTE ]
He's a blaster. He just doesn't understand the scrapper/brute way.
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Dominators and Stalkers are the least played Red side IMO because they both have limitations in a team atmosphere (or at least perceived ones). Brutes and Masterminds are a dime a dozen.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually they're rarer because traditionally they sucked . Both ATs were visibly underpowered compared to their peers.
[/ QUOTE ]
Or maybe people just couldn't recognize the utility of knocking 16 enemies out of every fight with Stalagmites/Flashfire/Seeds...
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
... getting back to the OP. People have made my "Don't need heals" and "try to get Stamina by level 20-24" points (most people swear by level 20, I'm usually fine till 22 or 24).
Hmm. Other advice for new kids: The game will change in the early 20's. The first 20 or so levels play, I'm told, like "other games". Healing keeps you alive and it's generally focussed on the guy on point.
After level 20 or so, the archetypes really come into their own. They've got their main powers, well enhanced. Tanks go from "dying for the team" to "dying when they get bored and jump into a huge purple spawn." Empaths go from "Healers with occasional buffs" to "Buffers with occasional heals." Scrappers become full-speed shredding machines with no common sense- or more accurately continue to be that, but now they have the tools to do what they really want- and Blasters are dropping ten or twelve guys at a time, every minute or so. Defenders do... well, no two Defender primaries do the same thing, but they do whatever, really well.
Villainside it's even more of a dramatic change. The teens are always really tough for me Villainside. Then it's like I get my driver's license or something, and I just start running people over.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
Some very nice turns of speech, Fulmens.
I do enjoy the 1-20 myself. Coming into the world, in some ways...
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.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The caveat is that when you get into the higher levels, your pregression can slow a lot if you haven't learned to use the mitigating secondary effects of your attacks effectively. If you continue to approach every spawn "guns a-blazing", you will faceplant often in the upper levels.
[/ QUOTE ]
Wait. You are saying that there are ways to play that don't involve rushing in and aggroing everything?
BLASPHEMY!!!
[/ QUOTE ]
He's a blaster. He just doesn't understand the scrapper/brute way.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, as an altoholic, I do understand the scrapper/brute way. In the right mood, it's a ton of fun.
BTW "she" is the one who is a Blaster at Heart, but still altoholic.
Altoholic - but a Blaster at Heart!
Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon
"You gave us a world where we could fly. I can't thank you enough for that."
Heya, I'm just starting CoH and I'm thinking over what archetype to choose. I was wondering if there are any that are way overplayed or some that are generally underplayed.
The reason I ask is that used to play World of Warcraft; often times there were never enough healers or way to many damage dealers, and I don't want to be on the wrong end of that sort of thing here.
So, if anyone could give me some advice on what would be best to play, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks.