So, now what?

I apologize in advance. This post will look like a whine/troll, and I suppose to some degree it is.

With i16 out in full swing, I've hit a bit of a lull. I've definitely taken advantage of the pre-i16 ways, which is making post i16 feel unbearably slow. After starting a PB in the i16 environment, only to hang it up after a mere 2 levels (it just felt too slow for my patience level), I started a Broadsword/Shield Defense scrapper. The character design (A futuristic Paladin) amused me at the time, which helped me get to level 8. Even this felt too slow(Broadsword attacks take forever and a day to recharge), however, and I'm coming close to hanging up the boots on that one as well.

I'm turning to the playerbase for assistance. I'm looking for recommendations on a powerset combination that can fulfill these criteria:

* Exciting and Fast paced within no more than the first hour or so of play.

* Capable of taking on multiple enemies. I imagine I'll want to move to +8 as quickly as possible.

* Solable. I don't want to *need* a team in order to feel accomplished.

* Not a Villain Elite. I never did quite finish up a 50 villain, and now I suspect that won't come to pass anytime soon.

Any constructive ideals would be more than welcome. Red or Blue side is fine.

Thank you in advance.

Claws, Dual Blade, or Spines Scrapper, with Regen, or Willpower as the secondary.

Regardless of your AT and Powerset, build, strategy, and tactics are important to survivability. You aren't going to be zerging +8 spawns until at least level 22, so keep your goals reasonable. Read the AT Specific forums, so you can learn about how your AT and powerset Works, or you're just setting yourself up to fail. And bear in mind that by level 2 or level 8, your character hasn't even begun to blossom - you can't judge anything about them, by that point.

Be Well!
Fireheart

I would recommend Fire melee for the primary and Willpower for the secondary. My fire/wp scrapper (at lvl 50) can handle +8 with ease.

I would also recommend taking /electric armor as an alternative. That set has a recharge reduction auto power that speeds up recharge a little It takes the sting out of slow powers like broadsword and energy melee.

It's not easy taking what you want out of a character concept, and what you want out of gameplay experience, and getting the two to meet in the middle.

Here, I think the "character concept" side has a little more to give.

Quote:

Originally Posted by serpentcommander A futuristic Paladin

Paladins are a 16th century thing. What backstory did you come up with to resolve the moral, technological, and political contradictions between past and future? In other words, why is he using a pointy stabby metal thing when everyone else has ray guns?

Or are you talking WoW paladins? That'd be even a harder job to reconcile with a futuristic world, I'm afraid.

Well, at this point I don't even care what the 'character concept' is, outside of 'entertaining out of the gate'. The Paladin bit was only mentioned because it was the character prior.

I suppose the answer to the question would be something along the lines of "Because we have Melee ATs, and they aren't rendered obsolete by the advent of the spear, and there were models for both futuristic swords and futuristic shields."

Definitely take advantage of the above suggestions... as they are good ones.

However, I can't help but ask: How can you feel that things are slower?* Leveling speed is faster than I have ever seen it before. I recall trying to get through the mid 30s on my Controller... it was hellacious (before the XP Smoothing in i12, IIRC).




* = Unless of course all you did was AE Farm, because then it is waaaaay slower, and for good reason.

I've also started a "futuristic paladin" concept with a Shield/Electric Tanker. The backstory is that he's a protoype police bot who has a malfunction that has convinced him that he's on a mission from God (yeah, lots of Cylon undertones).

I can't say that playing him feels all that fast and furious, but perhaps an Elec/Shield scrapper would do better, as it would get a full attack chain more quickly.

A couple other ideas for you.

A plant/TA controller becmoes viable at level 8 when you get Seeds of Confusion. If you 5 slotted it by level 11 you can pretty much perma seeds with DOs at 12 or with cheap confusion sets.

You can also get a very high damage, exciting, yet survivable Fire/Ice Blaster. Though as with most ATs, especially blasters, it doesn't really become viable for your goals until level 22 and 3 slotted Stamina with SOs.

Good out of the box?
Own big spawns of enemies?

Thugs/Dark mastermind is for you!

Very good defenses for the pets with one of the best healing/debuff sets for masterminds. You will own everything so smoothly that you will miss your sword/shield, because he was at least a challenge!






Ps.: Yes, I am being a bit ironic on the whole post to point out how ridiculously overpowered masterminds are at PvE, PvP and ERP! (They have henchies, use your imagination for the last one.)

To answer questions of levelling speed: I almost exclusively went for the farms until roughly mid-20s. Stamina just made too much of a difference to ignore.

in re: Blaster...I'm actually considering some kind of melee blaster at the moment. They create very large numbers very early in life, which is neat. Dunno if life becomes unsurvivable after level 30, but at level 6 One-Hitter Quitting things is fun.

in re: Mastermind...I love pet classes in MMOs, and as such I learned to quickly love Masterminds. The only thing that turned me off to them was an inability on my end to use IOs to the benefit of my pets, and that didn't matter too much until level 45 or so.

in re: Plant Controller...You know, I don't think I've ever rolled one of these up. I was concerned that it might be too expensive for me to get the recharge necessary for everything. Maybe I'll try a Plant/Kin or something if the Blaster doesn't work.

Keep the ideas coming, and thanks once more to those who have given good ideas so far.

QR:

Blasters feel faster than many other ATs to me, and I haven't seen any recommended yet. I'd recommend an Archery / Mental Manipulation Blaster. Try it, you'll like it.

(Conversely, stay away from Energy Blast, it's kinda the Broadsword of the set)

I can also back up the folks who have recommended Claws, as I've got a fun one of those at lv. 22. Quick and deadly.

(Somehow, this QR originally ended up in the wrong thread. Fixing that now. )