I need a fun villain.


Dispari

 

Posted

I've been looking to level a villain to 50 for a while but haven't been able to find a class that is still fun and able to fight well. I don't want to do another melee class since my last 50 was a scrapper, however, a electic or energy brute sounds fun, but I was leaning more towards a dominator. Any suggestions?


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ownator View Post
I've been looking to level a villain to 50 for a while but haven't been able to find a class that is still fun and able to fight well. I don't want to do another melee class since my last 50 was a scrapper, however, a electic or energy brute sounds fun, but I was leaning more towards a dominator. Any suggestions?
I highly recommend a Dominator. Not Gravity. Maybe something with Electrical Assault?


Wavicle, Energy/Energy Blaster, dinged 50 in Issue 4, summer of 2005.
@Wavicle, mostly on the Justice server.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ownator View Post
haven't been able to find a class that is still fun and able to fight well.
You sure you were looking at Villains?


 

Posted

Having played a number of doms, I would say either a fire/ or plant/ for a dom, and then /psi (it is still good) or /Energy. Either of those go well with eachother. If you want something not dom, dark/ice and elec/thermal cors are also fun.


 

Posted

Dominators are pretty much Blappers with controls so if you don't want to do another melee class I'd stay away from them and try a Corruptor or Mastermind.


 

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I'd suggest a /Dark Corrupter. I'm a big fan of Dark Miasma- it does very well solo and on teams. The nice thing about Dark Miasma is you get a lot of nice powers early on, and it just gets better.

It would work well with any primary, although Energy would require some extra work. My personal favourites are Fire, Dark (classic), and Rad. Fire is probably the most fun (although, fun is subjective) in the early levels if you want to get hooked right away.


 

Posted

I have a level 42 Thugs/Dark but find it way too easy and boring since my pets can do all the work for me.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ownator View Post
I've been looking to level a villain to 50 for a while but haven't been able to find a class that is still fun and able to fight well. I don't want to do another melee class since my last 50 was a scrapper, however, a electic or energy brute sounds fun, but I was leaning more towards a dominator. Any suggestions?
well, if melee is what you know, and had fun with in the past, then i'd suggest staying with that. anything else will be a large quantum shift from what you know.

(IMO) in this order from best to least of the best for mms: bots/dark, bots/ff, bots/traps, thugs/pain, thugs/dark. mms are...... captivating and engaging.

corruptors are by far my favorite AT. i'd suggest something with high damage like fire/ or sonic/, ice/ and even energy/. good secondaries are /thermal, /rad and /pain because they will enable you to solo efficiently at higher difficulty levels due to thier PBAoE heals. and buffer/de-buffers are always in high demand for team functions. though i like these primaries as well, if you're looking to get hooked right away, i'd stay away from them initially. and they are: rad/, dark/ and assualt rifle/. rad/ and dark/ are light in front loaded damage but really awesome once you start to play with IO sets and procs and final builds and such. assualt rifle has good single target (ST) damage but is beastly in the AoE department. especially when paired up with secondaries like /kinetics. full auto+fulcrum shift=AWESOME! electric/ is fun but only moderate as far as damage and noticably benificial secondary effects are concerned.

as far as secondaries are concerned? the only one i'd stay away from is /traps. why? because the devs decided it was OPed or broken or somethin' and changed the way poison trap works. you see, people were having fun with it and damage procs and it was on it's way to becoming a popular set. the devs were like "WHOA nelly, we don't want people to have to much fun in this game"........... and beat it with the nerf bat. now, to me, it's a boring and tedious set to try to level. hell, you might like it, i dunno. give it a shot. oh, the tier 9 power is aweful too. not only is it interuptable, but the activation time is like, what, 7-8 minutes.....? compared to everything else (imo), it's blows!

/storm deserves to be mentioned as well. i like it. but as far as the overall perception is concerned. you're better off going with something like /rad. afterall, /storm is like /rad's little mentally disabled cousin. tons of knockback (KB) on all the coolest powers, a mediocer -i'm being generous when i say mediocer too- heal, and the de-buffs are basically weak clones of /rad's. just roll a ?/rad if you're thinking about a /storm corr. no brute or mm will like you on the team if you're a /storm corr that likes to use your coolest powers. you'll be KB-ing spawns and scattering aggroe all over hell, illiciting team posts such as: "STOP WITH THE KB!" or "man KB sucks". sometimes though, it's just fun to be a stinker too. i do, afterall, have a 50 /storm corr lol.....


The validity of your statment does not increase in direct proportion with the frequency and volume at which you speak it.

 

Posted

Dystrophy: I had fun with my /traps corr and the nerf didn't touch me. I like having a SR blaster, it turns out. I would agree that it's not a high-power set, but whining six months after the fact when there was a bug and procs were triggering, roughly, ten times as much as they should? That's weak.

Ownator, when you said

Quote:
I have a level 42 Thugs/Dark but find it way too easy and boring since my pets can do all the work for me.
you're talking about a /Dark MASTERMIND. I believe the people above you were talking about a /dark CORRUPTOR. Different.


Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.

So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wavicle View Post
I highly recommend a Dominator. Not Gravity. Maybe something with Electrical Assault?
I find Elec kind of annoying. I don't like the pet I have to resummon constantly. Would be nicer if it was on a 4-minute timer instead of 90 seconds. I also don't like only having one AoE. Technically I have two, but the AoE splash on Thunderstrike does trivial damage. It also does knockback and throws enemies to the four corners of the Earth. And with the high damage scales Doms have now, the fact that the BU only does +68% is kind of dumb. With their new scales, they outdamage Blasters in melee, and aren't too far off from ranged. They really ought to get +100%. Or AT LEAST +80%. Their scales average out to 1.00, same as Stalkers, who get +80% from BU.

Rant aside, Doms are pretty fun since the update. Plant Control is easily my favorite. Earth Assault is looking good, and I'm looking forward to making a Plant/Earth Dom when i16 hits. Plant, Mind, and Fire are all great primaries to pick from. Secondaries vary depending on what you want (AoE vs ST and the self-buff power).


Quote:
Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU View Post
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

 

Posted

I think a Dominator is a good choice. If you want to pick a secondary that only minimally lives in melee range, go with /Fire Assault. It only has one melee attack, and I played my Fire/Fire Dom to 50 without that attack. Fire still has plenty of damage potential without the melee fire attack.

I'd recommend Earth/Fire for the heavy control, plus the decent area and single target damage, with the flexibility to play in close OR at range.

Lewis


Random AT Generation!
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Posted

Fulmens, I wasn't replying to Nurvus' message, I was replying to Irresponsible. I'm going to try a fire Corruptor and might go /kin or /pain. I'll also try a Plant/Psi or Plant/Fire


 

Posted

+1 for Plant/Fire here.


@macskull, @Not Mac | XBL: macskull | Steam: macskull | Skype: macskull
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
I also don't like only having one AoE. Technically I have two, but the AoE splash on Thunderstrike does trivial damage. It also does knockback and throws enemies to the four corners of the Earth.
Dom secondaries are frequently kinda AoE light. Also, the scatter on Thunderstrike can be completely mitigated with area -kb available in most primaries.


Wavicle, Energy/Energy Blaster, dinged 50 in Issue 4, summer of 2005.
@Wavicle, mostly on the Justice server.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wavicle View Post
Dom secondaries are frequently kinda AoE light. Also, the scatter on Thunderstrike can be completely mitigated with area -kb available in most primaries.
Elec has 1.5 AoEs, I suppose. One real one (cone), and one PBAoE that doesn't really do much damage.

Elec: 1 cone, 1/2 a PBAoE
Energy: 1 PBAoE
Fire: 1 cone, 1 PBAoE
Ice: 1 cone, 1 PBAoE
Psi: 1 cone, 1 PBAoE
Thorn: 2 cones, 1 PBAoE
Earth: 1 targeted AoE, 1 PBAoE

Really, Elec lags behind everything but Energy. With the powers proposed for Earth Assault, it will be the only Dom secondary with a targeted AoE. And it should be pretty nice.

I suppose I'm not a fan of knockback. It's the only status effect that can actually be detrimental, and the only real way to get by is to negate it entirely. If the only way I can use TS is to make sure enemies don't get knocked back first, that defeats the purpose of the secondary effect entirely. I feel that way when I play my Energy Blaster. I feel as though I may have well just gone Fire, because I try to party with Controllers who can negate my knockback, at which point I'm not even contributing anything but damage.


Quote:
Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU View Post
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
I suppose I'm not a fan of knockback. It's the only status effect that can actually be detrimental, and the only real way to get by is to negate it entirely. If the only way I can use TS is to make sure enemies don't get knocked back first, that defeats the purpose of the secondary effect entirely. I feel that way when I play my Energy Blaster. I feel as though I may have well just gone Fire, because I try to party with Controllers who can negate my knockback, at which point I'm not even contributing anything but damage.
It's not the only status effect that can be detrimental. Immobilizes can ruin a teams ability to position mobs. Disorients can scatter mobs by triggering panic AI. Sleeps and Fears and Holds can all do the same as Immobs. It's about timing, mostly.

KB is also not only workable by negating it. You can AIM it. Not always easy or possible, but it frequently is doable without much time or effort. You can use your knockback as a very effective tool, both to position mobs for additional aoes, and to keep them off their feet and not attacking.

I admit I wish Dom TStrike was knockdown.


Wavicle, Energy/Energy Blaster, dinged 50 in Issue 4, summer of 2005.
@Wavicle, mostly on the Justice server.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wavicle View Post
It's not the only status effect that can be detrimental. Immobilizes can ruin a teams ability to position mobs. Disorients can scatter mobs by triggering panic AI. Sleeps and Fears and Holds can all do the same as Immobs. It's about timing, mostly.
I can do you one better. Confuse takes away experience if used poorly. All status effects that slow or prevent enemy attacks hinder Fury gain and make pets in defensive mode stop attacking. Let's be realistic though:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wavicle View Post
KB is also not only workable by negating it. You can AIM it. Not always easy or possible, but it frequently is doable without much time or effort. You can use your knockback as a very effective tool, both to position mobs for additional aoes, and to keep them off their feet and not attacking.
Having played numerous characters with knockbacks, I can agree with you only to an extent. Single target knockback is pretty manageable, and in most cases pretty useful. As far as AoEs go, I could fully agree with you if the AoE knockback powers were reliable. But they're not.

When I play my Blaster, I can attempt to aim or position enemies, but it doesn't matter. If there's a wall or I make sure to shoot them all in one direction, that sounds good on paper. But only 40%-60% of the enemies I hit will actually be knocked back. That means half go in the direction I want, and half don't. Instant scatter, no matter how good my aim or positioning is. A second volley will only make matters worse. I can more or less get around this issue by quickly throwing my attacks in rapid succession to knock back as many foes as possible at once, but I find that doing this is only struggling against the secondary effects of my own powers.

I have a Rad Corruptor. A Peacebringer. Archery, Assault Rifle, and Traps. I find myself almost always avoiding the AoE knockbacks, because even if you do as you say and aim the powers, or try to position them, scatter is inevitable. Doing so in an outdoor scenario is even worse, as there's no practical limit to the knockback range in a single battle. PBAoE knockback is even worse, because you have to either sit on the outskirts of a group and probably miss many of the foes, or scatter them in all directions.

I've played scores of characters, with all the status effects and scenarios you've mentioned. While true immobilize can be a problem if you use it blindly, in my experience, even used intelligently I feel like I'm holding the team back if I use AoE knockbacks. I've never been on a team and quietly hoped that someone would somehow prevent me from being able to stun or hold enemies because it's just such an annoyance. Even in tight areas with nearby walls, knockback causes scatter just because of the simple fact that around half of the enemies won't get knocked back, and are thus now farther apart than they were before.

Additionally, the major advantage to knockback which is to prevent enemies (including mez-resistant bosses) from attacking for a short period, would still work if it was knockdown instead of knockback. As for positioning enemies and rounding them up, we have powers that are much better at doing so, which have a 100% success rate rather than a 40%-60% success rate. It's like chaining Will Domination to keep an enemy asleep. It theoretically works on paper, but the instant it fails you're going to slap yourself in the forehead and wonder why the power is just designed to not cooperate with itself.

Reliable knockback AoEs with 100% success rate? Good. Unreliable AoEs that do completely-manageable knockdown? Good. Completely unreliable and random AoEs with (high) mag knockback, especially in PBAoEs? Very very bad. It's even crazier to think that the AoEs (especially PBAoEs) scatter enemies so that they can't be hit by further AoEs. Possibly the most self-defeating power concept ever.

Of course, the above is just one person's opinion. Your mileage may vary.


Quote:
Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU View Post
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

 

Posted

I just find that on the teams my coalition runs people are usually pretty smart about bringing mobs to walls and corners so that scatter doesn't occur.


Wavicle, Energy/Energy Blaster, dinged 50 in Issue 4, summer of 2005.
@Wavicle, mostly on the Justice server.

 

Posted

[QUOTE=Fulmens;2157010]Dystrophy: I had fun with my /traps corr and the nerf didn't touch me. I like having a SR blaster, it turns out. I would agree that it's not a high-power set, but whining six months after the fact when there was a bug and procs were triggering, roughly, ten times as much as they should? That's weak.
QUOTE]

fulmens. i couldn't care less about what you have to say. untill the devs decide that i'm over-stepping my forum privledges i will continue to voice my opinion. sooooo, stick around cause it could be a year or five that i'm "whining" about this. troll me as much as you want. but i will not stop on account of you.

i happen to think that your need to say that i'm weak, is weak. i also think you're a fanboi. but that does not mean i'm right. also, i don't think that me posting in a virtual forum, with little to no fear of reprisal, makes me stronge. or you for that matter.

besides, opinions are like A-holes. everyone has one, and all of them stink.


The validity of your statment does not increase in direct proportion with the frequency and volume at which you speak it.