Earth/ alone is a control monster. Once you get Stalagmites, Earthquake, Quicksand and VGasses you won't need to heal that much. IIRC Mr. TPF plays one and he seems to love it. Maybe he'll step by and show you his build.
@False Fiction - Virtue / Defiant
Current projects - [Glaciologist - Ill/Cold Troller] [Cloudshaper - Storm/Dark Def] [Harald Wartooth - Elec/Psi Domi]
Earth/Empathy was my first 50 and my main char for a very long time. I love playing team support, I love controlling and I love buffing, and this build gave me the opportunity to do lots of all of that. It is still one of my most favourite combinations and never fails to make me think 'god, I love this game!'
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Was thinking some control in between dishing out Heals would be the order of day but seems i was a little wrong. All i seem to have time to do , in a decent sized team anyways is Heal , Heal and Heal with no time to rattle of any of my Earth Shattering holds 
Admitadly only at lvl 12 so far but as for power choice it looks like i'll have to take most of my secondarys as people when they see Empathy will expect these buffs etc? at the cost of the more "fun" Earth Troller moves.
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I can understand your concerns entirely, as I'm sure most other low level Controllers would. But as you said yourself, things are still very early on in terms of your character's build. All the serious controls, most effective combos and imho the more fun powers in the Earth set become available at lvl 12 and later. Before that, you don't really have any hard aoe lockdown at your disposal not to mention the possible lack of any DO slotting, and since Fossilize seems to take a lifetime to recharge at that stage it's not a surprise that you might find yourself having to heal lots instead of disabling whole spawns like a Controller 'should'.
When played and slotted well, Earth control is a very powerful set with potential for some serious lockdown and some serious fun. Earth/Empathy is an entirely viable combination, and an especially fun combination for players that enjoy being kept on their feet at all times. Granted, as with most intensive builds, it may feel a little stretched to begin with as it did for me when pondering over which powers were more important and where to place slots, but as your character and your slotting begin to mature you will find that both your primary and secondary sets can receive the attention they deserve.
Looking back, I suppose I went through a similar evolution with my own Earth/Empath. My overall strategy from the start was to focus power choices and slots on my primary set, since that's where I felt I should have been performing as a Controller. As it turned out, however, things didn't really work out that way in terms of a levelling-up build and in terms of evolution of my gameplay style:
At early levels, I felt quite underpowered in terms of my primary set, unable to maintain control of larger spawns, particularly on larger teams. My natural response was to compensate by running around and spamming Healing Aura, much like you have been. Whether this was down to my inexperience in the game, or the inexperience of my team mates, or just the low level of my build and lack of powers and slotting was hard to say at the time, but now I'd guess it was certainly a combination of all three. To add to the frustration, most players at those levels didn't really understand the purpose of a Controller and would cry for heals instead which, lets admit it, have a more visual effect at those levels. Either way, my damage output was minimal so there wasn't much else to do but heal until the more effective controls came along anyway. My early build did focus more on Empathy.
As my understanding of the sets grew and my build matured with more slots and more powers, I felt much more competent at lockdown and was able to manage spawns in a far more efficient way, and on my own terms. Around lvl 20-25 I started to feel that my gameplay was becoming more balanced in terms of my primary and secondary powers. I could do a fair bit of control and a fair bit of Empathing, both of which I enjoyed, both of which were appreciated by my teams. At times and on some teams it felt quite tricky to juggle both sets to full capacity and to the full needs of the team, especially if there were no other Defenders present, and sometimes I'd find myself falling back on healing 100% until a particularly difficult moment was over, but these kind of scenarios became less and less frequent as I gained more experience with my char and better slotting. At this point, my build had a good measure of control in it, but may have been slightly tilted towards the secondary, taking Recall Friend to use with Resurrect etc, and respecing Stamina in pushed some of the better controls to later on than in my earlier builds.
By lvl 30 I was capable of serious lockdown, and while my heals were rather well slotted I felt they had started to become less critical. Why waste time on blanket heals when you can quite easily incapacitate entire spawns with a couple of moves instead? By this time I had also made plenty of good friends in game, which meant I had regular 8 man teams with intelligent players. I found that I would get easily bored unless I was on a full team playing on a relatively high mission rep, because larger more difficult spawns were so much more fun, and so much more satisfying, to lock down. Mishes with smaller teams/mobs were not a challenge.
After lvl 30, it felt like my build was finally maturing properly. I had lots of slots to play with, and had already taken almost all the powers in my primary set. I was very confident in the control aspect of things, and had little difficulty locking down most kinds of mobs. AVs were mostly no problem to hold either, due to the stacking nature of Volcanic Gases. On intelligent teams, healing was still second-place to controls and buffs. This is surely something you would have experienced yourself whilst lvling your own Empath. At mid to higher levels, Empathy seems far more useful for team buffs than for healing. I could perma fort at least 3 team members, RAs were up nice and often, nuking blasters and resistance tankers would be loving my regular AB etc. Heals were a nice backup and useful for alphas but overall were far less important than my controls, and far less needed. I quite often joke amongst friends that I'll be using less buffs and less controls so that I can work on my healing badges. Resurrect got used far far less regularly too (unless that was for healing badges as well hehe). I remember fondly wanting to fully slot rez with recharge at early levels because I needed it so often.
At later levels, I only played on full teams and only on invincible. Anything else was just not enough of a challenge and not enough fun.
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Anyone play this combo at higher lvls and have fun or are you just expected to be a Heal Bot?
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There are always going to be scenarios where a team will need a good deal of Empathy attention, but the only times I've felt my primary has taken a back seat was a) when playing the Imperius Task Force and b) when fighting GMs. I soon discovered the Cimerorans' status protection and clear mind buffs rendered most of my controls more or less useless. I fell back to playing the TF as an almost full time Empath, and as a result this is probably the only TF I would rather do on any alt other than my Earth Controller. As for GMs, well, there's not much hope of holding one for any serious duration and although in terms of debuffage Earth has some nice stacking -def and nice slows, it doesn't have any debuffs particularly useful for GMs such as -regen or -res.
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Don't get me wrong i don't mind the Healing part but could i get away with just Healing Aura and Heal Other plus prob RA or do i need Rez,Fort etc?
I would just like to try a few more of the Earth powers without getting booted off a team for not being able to Rez someone 
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Build your char the way you want to build him/her. Play him the way you want to play him. Enjoy him. You're a Controller! If you're booted from a team for not having rez or enough 'healz' then you're better off without that team. It would probably be one of those teams that start crying for the leader to invite a 'healer' at the first sign of any tricky situation. I suspect most sensible players would agree. Besides, you've already played Empathy to 50, so choose the powers you find interesting and new. Some people might be surprised to find an Empath, whether Defender or Controller, without Rez, but I'd be far happier with Fort if it came to a choice. I guess this does raise the question though, should you try a different secondary?
Play your char the way you find interesting and the way you find useful. As you lvl up, your needs will change, your build will adapt and so will your gameplay. Eventually, you'll find that you'll probably be able to take almost all of your primary and almost all of your secondary powers anyway. My 50 has all powers from Earth except Stone Prison, Salt Crystals and Animate Stone. I'm considering respecing into Stone Prison at some point, but I've respec'd out of both Crystals and Animated Stone in the past. I have all powers from Empathy except Absorb Pain, which I also removed during a respec and to be honest, I don't miss it.
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Thinking of rerolling Earth to a differnet secondary before i go too much further but not sure what a better combo would be?
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I've often toyed with the idea of starting another Earth Controller with a different secondary but I love my Earth/Empath too much. I've not got any personal experience with different Earth/ combos, but from general knowledge and experience of other sets as my primaries I'd say it would probably go well with all the secondaries, it just depends how you play it:
FF - a nice set, with lots of low maintenance powers (long duration buffs, pbaoe toggles etc) that would allow you to focus more on your primary more of the time. Doesn't seem to have any major synergy with Earth control, although some of the later powers do provide disorient and KB. Force Bolt and Force Bubble are awesome controls. Not sure about possible endurance issues.
Kin - again, no major synergy other than giving you lots of additional recharge, and which Controller would say no to that? Lots of buffing on this set if you like that sort of thing, but it might take away the focus of controls if you don't like doing too many things at once. The buffs would be great on your pet too. The debuffs would possibly make you a little more useful against AVs/GMs.
Rad - lots of anchors, so as long as you're tidy with your controls this would work well and fill in nicely against AVs/GMs too. In the absence of a tank or other form of herding, you could probably pull rather nicely with the anchors to group up the mobs, then slap your controls on them. Not sure about possible endurance issues.
Sonic - similar comments to FF, I guess. Liquefy would add some nice stacking for holds and -def.
Storm - zomg. Many people say this is 'uber' lockdown. I've drooled over Earth/Storms for a long time, but didn't want to start another Earthy. This would probably be my choice for the most control, the most fun, and the most challenging to play well. Lots of stacking effects (slows, stuns, KBs), an anchor for pulling, and some nice -res in there too. Really nice conceptually if that's your thing.
TA - lots of slows to stack with yours, a single target hold to stack with yours, lots of debuffs to throw onto mobs you lock down, a really nice set though I'd prefer to play it as a primary. The redraw of the bow might be annoying for some.
Hope this helps, and if you have any specific questions feel free to get in touch, either here or in game. My global is below.
Btw, is Liberty-Belle a fire blaster?
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Btw, is Liberty-Belle a fire blaster?
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Liberty is my Sonic/Ice Blaster over on Defiant
I do have a Fire Blaster on Union , Miss Hot Stuff.
Thanks very much for the comprehensive Earth run down there.
I'm tempted to try the Earth/Storm for the fuller Controller feel but think i'll take the Earth/Empath here to 32 and see how it go's.
As you said as you progress and do the odd respec things tend to get a little easier and clearer.
As you also said getting onto the right team with experienced players who know what to expect and when to expect it makes life a lot more pleasant but that's not something that happens all that often , for me anyways.
Edit :- Actually no , when i think about what you wrote i'm gonna scrap this one and reroll as Earth/Storm.
Storm is another powerset i've not tried. I didn't want originally to play 2 new powersets and be an uber-noob which is why i took Empathy but on reflection 2 new powersets will make it more interesting.
Thanks again for your comments , deffinatly sticking with Earth Primary.
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Liberty is my Sonic/Ice Blaster over on Defiant
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Ah. Come to think of it, that sounds even more familiar now. The reason I ask is I think we've PuG'd quite a few times throughout your levelling on Liberty. Most recent occasion was probably over double xp weekend, with me on my ice tank, Block Of. I think at one point we had a full team with me, 5 blasters including you, and a couple of kheldians. Does that ring a bell?
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Thanks very much for the comprehensive Earth run down there.
I'm tempted to try the Earth/Storm for the fuller Controller feel but think i'll take the Earth/Empath here to 32 and see how it go's.
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You're welcome. I hope it helped. I guess it was a very personal view of how things worked, so many people may have different perspectives. I expect that my own perspective and experience would be a little different if I started an earth/emp now that I have a greater understanding of the game compared to back when I was very new.
In a way, I think it's a shame you're not going for /Storm, but earth/emp is still a very fun set and highly highly team oriented. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. ;D
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As you also said getting onto the right team with experienced players who know what to expect and when to expect it makes life a lot more pleasant but that's not something that happens all that often , for me anyways.
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My global is below. I've got alts at most lvls on Defiant, so give me a shout if you fancy . On Union, my alts are in the 30s.
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Actually no , when i think about what you wrote i'm gonna scrap this one and reroll as Earth/Storm.
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Yay! I'm SURE you'll enjoy it ;D. So so powerful and so so technically interesting. I ended up rolling an illu/storm to satisfy the urge, he's now 30.
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Thanks again for your comments , deffinatly sticking with Earth Primary.
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No problem, glad I could help somebody out. Feel free to give me a shout if you need anything further while you lvl up. Would be nice to hear how you get on
I got an Earth/Storm at 50. Shout if u need any help.
@False Fiction - Virtue / Defiant
Current projects - [Glaciologist - Ill/Cold Troller] [Cloudshaper - Storm/Dark Def] [Harald Wartooth - Elec/Psi Domi]
I have a Earth/Storm at 50 too. They are awesome fun, although I wouldn't do much soloing before the mid to late thirties. 
Octavian Vanguard
@ohmsEU and @ohms 2
Badging character: Bimble on the Union server, Badgehunter.com and City Info Tracker.
Hey Hib! If I hadn't paired earth with kin (which works quite well actually: -def helps with kin powers, SB on Mr Poo is nice, Fulcrum gives you good damage potential post-38 to complement earth's uber-control, etc.) I would have probably chosen storm as a secondary (but I'd just finished levelling an ice/storm at the time). Have fun!
CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>
Hi Okt *wave* , had a Kin to 32 and don't know why but didn't enjoy it so it went in the bin
Mr TPF i do indeedy remeber Block of Ice and fun we had. It was double xp weekend that got me back and resubbed again
Got my new Earth/Storm up to lvl 9 last night and already i feel more comfortable with her than my Empath one.
Thanks again and hope to see you on Defiant again soon. I play too many alts to have a good run of levels on one particular toon
This might be commenting a little late but i'd defo stick with Earth/Emp and see how you like it. I love mine to bits - I always feel like i'm contributing massively to the survivability of a team when I play her, moreso than any of my other support toons. She can't solo for anything, even with Mr. Poo and epic blasts but I find theres more than enough to keep her very busy on teams.
On the matter of striking a balance between controlling and healing...I find if I am proactive with buffs (getting your fort-cycle sorted early on) then I have far more time to control later.
Also do remember that you are a controller first, if it's a choice between laying down an earthquake that might save the whole team or using heal other to save a teammate always do the former first (tough choices and all). Unless of course the teammate is the cornerstone of the team (most often the tank), in which case just use your own best judgement.
also be especially careful using absorb pain with Earth/. It's a marvelous power but I can't count the number of times i'd died after using it with the massive amounts of agro Earth control can generate. No problem with sacrificing myself for the team, but usually if you die they tend to follow in sticky situations anyway
Slight non-sequiter: Mr. Poo is SO much better now since his AI got buffed, he's a half-decent tank now, well done devs.
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
Well i've not deleted her yet but have been really enjoying the Stormie secondry though admittadly i've only sampled a few powers.
I think if i didn't have a 50 Empath already for the team contribution i agree with you , Empathy is very good but i just can't bring myself to go through the lvls again with shouts of HEAL PLZ which i remember an aweful lot of
I've got 2 slots free on Union and until i get an other flash of inspiration i won't delete the Empath...for now
and we all know empathy is really for defenders 
*ducks*
CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>
I see perfectly good control sets that controllers should be allowed time to use before people need to panic, run around like headless chickens crying "Heal Meh!!".
There is only so much that can be done in a short space of time and I am sure a controller would rather of contained lets say the 3 Malta groups, with a sapper each, in an obvious ambush point made for idiots, than have to chase after said idiots to save them.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
As an update i've now deleted my Stormie , didn't like the powers for whatever reason.
Playing my Empath again and glad i didn't delete her. With Quicksand,Stalagmites and Earthquake now i find i've plent of time to cast these then get on with any healing thats needed.
Hoping come RA time if i 3 slot recharges and with my Hasten i might not need the Swift/Health/Stamina combo. I can't bear the thought of sacrificing 3 of my current powers just for Stamina!.
Is that possible you reckon or is Stamina a must?
Depends on build; end slotting, cast times, recharge times and pace mainly. I don't have a Earth/Emp but I do have a Mind/Emp but I can only imagine her staminaless on teams that aren't wreckless.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
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As an update i've now deleted my Stormie , didn't like the powers for whatever reason.
Playing my Empath again and glad i didn't delete her. With Quicksand,Stalagmites and Earthquake now i find i've plent of time to cast these then get on with any healing thats needed.
Hoping come RA time if i 3 slot recharges and with my Hasten i might not need the Swift/Health/Stamina combo. I can't bear the thought of sacrificing 3 of my current powers just for Stamina!.
Is that possible you reckon or is Stamina a must?
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Personally I wouldn't.
When RA is up, no you don't need stamina at all, in fact I think RA could probably keep a stam-less spines/dark scrapper going full out! But it's on a long recharge, and some of the Earth powers in particular are relatively end heavy (not massively but I wouldn't want to waste slots on end reduction). As a controller you don't get the benefit of vigilance either and I personally wouldn't want to get stuck with an empty endurance bar when the *&@% hits the fan.
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
Ah well it was kind of wishful thinking , Fitness pool it is then. Just got to work out what to respec out at least for a few lvls.
Just love all the powers i've got just now with the possible exception of Absob Pain which does tend to get me killed more than i'd like but has saved the day a fair few times
Trying to get away with a stamina-less build on earth would be very difficult indeed. Earth is very end heavy.
Think you answered your own question there. What power to lose, absorb pain! Although the best heal there is, is very difficult to use unless you are a pure emp build (primary set). Got a couple of emp trollys and never a power I even considered as a secondary.
Both my lvl 50 trollys have emp as a seconary and it is a fine balance. Often I wis I hadn't chosen at all, but too late to change now
Trying to get away with a stamina-less build on earth would be very difficult indeed. Earth is very end heavy.
Think you answered your own question there. What power to lose, absorb pain! Although the best heal there is, is very difficult to use unless you are a pure emp build (primary set). Got a couple of emp trollys and never a power I even considered as a secondary.
Both my lvl 50 trollys have emp as a seconary and it is a fine balance. Often I wish I hadn't chosen at all, but too late to change now
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As an update i've now deleted my Stormie , didn't like the powers for whatever reason.
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That's a real shame. What in particular didn't you like, and how far did you get?
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Playing my Empath again and glad i didn't delete her. With Quicksand,Stalagmites and Earthquake now i find i've plent of time to cast these then get on with any healing thats needed.
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Stalagmites is one of the best powers in the Earth set and an amazing power across controllers in general. The reason being that, properly slotted with accuracy, it is one of the best imho openers for a controller: very fast, instant control, and low chance for return of aggro. It is even more useful to an /empath because controls such as earthquake and volcanic gases (and quicksand) root you for what feels like a long time when the tank needs healing from the alpha burst. Bear this in mind when considering your opening attack chains if you are the only empath. You will definitely get frustrated if team mates plant while you are rooted during a cast duration.
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Hoping come RA time if i 3 slot recharges and with my Hasten i might not need the Swift/Health/Stamina combo. I can't bear the thought of sacrificing 3 of my current powers just for Stamina!.
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Is that possible you reckon or is Stamina a must?
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Have discussed this before in other threads. You theory might be entirely sound, but only in the ideal peachy world. When you're up against clocks (oooh scary), cabal, carnies, malta or other saptastic scenarios you may find yourself in need of endurance, especially if you're having to work overtime. I tend to plan my builds for worst case scenarios rather than day to day scenarios. I'd rather have stamina and be in total control of the worst scenario, than trade it in and not be able to use other powers when I need them.
Another thing to consider is that you won't get Recovery Aura until 28 at the very earliest. While this is fine for things like Katie Hannon TF (30+) you may find yourself struggling earlier.
It also depends how you actually play your char. Spamming Stone Cages for example will really kill your endurace, especially without Stamina and RAs. Limiting Cages to once per mob and only when required would really help, and tbh not affect your control much at all.
In honesty, I rarely have issues with endurance after taking Stamina, but I wouldn't dream of losing it.
At the end of the day, try it all out. Respecs ftw, and it's not like respec trials are either difficult or long to complete.
Have fun
Just an Few Words from an Earth/Emapth addicted.
Its just pure Fun in Teams, you troll nealy any Mobgroup Instead and after you locked all down you heal that little damage who comes trough. And Buff your teammates.
As Earth you have Empathy as an Additional Must have fo Teams, many dont know how Powerfull Earth is, ( Lvl 6 Quicksand -25% Def, and Slow Autohit ftw.). But with thats little Empathy, youre welcome in most Teams.
Ive just done the Roman TF Today , Good Team, and i was the only Healer beside an rad Defender.
All May Stone Powers are 6 Slotted, so not to much left for Heals, but we did very good. The Lockdowns prevent most Damage and the Buffs transormed the Blasters and the Scrapper in Killing Maschines.
You See Earth / Empathy is an very usefull Team Build. And you can solo later on higherst Diff without any Problems.
Greetings Braddack
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Hoping come RA time if i 3 slot recharges and with my Hasten i might not need the Swift/Health/Stamina combo. I can't bear the thought of sacrificing 3 of my current powers just for Stamina!.
[/ QUOTE ] WHAT ! An Empath without Stamina or Vigilance ! What on earth is the point in that...
*baffled*
Carlsberg don't do Farming,
But if they did..........
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Hoping come RA time if i 3 slot recharges and with my Hasten i might not need the Swift/Health/Stamina combo. I can't bear the thought of sacrificing 3 of my current powers just for Stamina!.
[/ QUOTE ] WHAT ! An Empath without Stamina or Vigilance ! What on earth is the point in that...
*baffled*
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Whoa...a controller without Vigilance!!!11!? 
/e facepalm
SingStar:
"Extremists LOVE to fish to get us annoyed so we break the forum rules."
CRACK68:
"The origin of life wasn't planned either, should all life be declared a bug and wiped out?"
Lionsbane:
"You know me.Ever the realist"
Now at lvl 41 and it's been a Blast all the way!
My question was could i manage with out Stamina not i'm going without it , i do have it and have found it useful on more than 1 occasion.
Didn't realsise Mr Poo was such a total head case! He just wades in where fools fear to tread.
Glad i went Earth instead of Storm , it's been real fun so far and thanks to all who posted comments.
Hey guys
) how to play the Empath roll but never tried Earth before.
Decided to try a new combo that was a little different and got Earth/Empathy.
Now i have a 50 Empath Defender so i know (or think i do
Was thinking some control in between dishing out Heals would be the order of day but seems i was a little wrong. All i seem to have time to do , in a decent sized team anyways is Heal , Heal and Heal with no time to rattle of any of my Earth Shattering holds
Admitadly only at lvl 12 so far but as for power choice it looks like i'll have to take most of my secondarys as people when they see Empathy will expect these buffs etc? at the cost of the more "fun" Earth Troller moves.
Anyone play this combo at higher lvls and have fun or are you just expected to be a Heal Bot?
Thinking of rerolling Earth to a differnet secondary before i go too much further but not sure what a better combo would be?
Don't get me wrong i don't mind the Healing part but could i get away with just Healing Aura and Heal Other plus prob RA or do i need Rez,Fort etc?
I would just like to try a few more of the Earth powers without getting booted off a team for not being able to Rez someone