New Player looking for advice.

I've been reading up a lot on the forums about different builds for many different archtypes. I took a tanker to level 10 or so and a Corrupter to around level 8.

My problem is, I like the red side a lot more then the blue, but I don't see many people, atleast at the low levels, and my Corrupter is getting much harder to play solo now.

I keep reading that lethal damage really sucks later on but I can't see myself playing somone who does elemental punches or throws elemental type energy.

I guess I am looking to see what you all think is a solo friendly AT that uses some kind of weapon, and would still do okay picking up the occasinal group.

That or tell me how I could make my Corrupter a tad bit easier. (Even if I have to start it over again.)

Thank you.

First question, which server are you playing on? Some servers have larger redside populations than others. All of my villains are on one server (infinity), so I don't know off the top of my head which server has the best villain population, but if I had to guess, I'd probably pick freedom.

Second, what powersets are your corruptor? From your mention of lethal, I assume your primary is assault rifle or archery. What secondary do you have? As long as you don't have something which is all based around buffing allies, you should be able to solo fine eventually. For now, though, it's quite hard to judge the long term viability of a character before level 20. The teens are a pain in the rear for most characters, no matter the AT/powersets. Most corruptors will solo reasonably well once their powersets mature (just try to get stamina, from the fitness power pool, by level 20 or soon after, it will help with your endurance woes).

Finally, lethal damage resistance is, in my opinion, sometimes overstated. Yes, you will run into things that heavily resist lethal damage. Will it stop you from killing them? Generally not. If your secondary has a decent amount of foe debuffs, self buffs, or offensive style powers, you can change that to 'almost certainly not', as long as you have taken a reasonable number of attacks from your primary and slotted them well. Also, while assault rifle and archery are both predominantly lethal, they both include at least a bit of other damage types. For archery, blazing arrow includes a fire DoT, and exploding arrow is half smashing damage. For AR, flamethrower and ignite are both pure fire, which helps a lot.

If you want to look around for different ATs that use weapons, redside you're looking at brutes, stalkers, and masterminds. Brutes have several weapon based powersets (which are all at least decent - and war mace is smashing instead of lethal), and several nice non-elemental secondaries such as willpower, invulnerability, and shields. Brutes generally solo well, but are also fine on teams. Stalkers have many of the same sets as brutes, but play much differently with their stealth focus. They're generally considered trickier to play, especially on teams - but they solo very well. For masterminds, two of the primaries have you and the pets almost exclusively using weapons (thugs and mercs), and bots use energy guns instead of elemental stuff. Controlling your pets can be quite tricky, though, and I wouldn't really recommend it for a new player.

So if you want to try another redside AT with a weapon (and you don't necessarily have to get rid of your corruptor, either, even if you do make another character), I would probably suggest a weapon-using brute, probably with invulnerability or willpower as a secondary.

On hero side, scrappers are generally the most solo friendly, and the majority of the powersets involve some kind of weapon.

Claws even has a couple options that are claws strapped to your wrists rather than jutting out of your hands.

Villain side I would second Muon's advice to try a brute.

The only other advice I have is: Don't limit yourself, try everything.

Don't like the idea of a character that throws fire because it's too "unnatural"? Create a costume that has pieces that could be fire generating machinery. I have a fire blaster who has a device built that launches gobs of jellied kerosene at his foes, which are ignited by a scavenged piece of a grill starting lighter. His secondary is Electric, which uses a battery pack to overcharge the grill lighter for use as a weapon.

Always remember, how your character's powers work is entirely up to you. You can create just about anything that operates via some sort of weapon or gadget, the only limitation is how you want to describe it.

In general, yes, villain side is more sparsely populated than hero side, but don't let that discourage you from playing there. Especially since with the upcoming expansion we will be able to create any AT and play it anywhere we want.

Both Tankers and Corruptors are notoriously low damage, not as bad as Defenders, but close. If you want a very soloable class redside, go for either a Brute or a Mastermind. While the MM will have tougher going through the 20s, they are capable of great damage once you hit 32. (Especially Bots or Thugs) Stalkers can also be good for soloing, although it depends a lot on whether you enjoy that type of stealthy play.

Don't forget, though, that when Going Rogue comes out, you will be able to bring the blue side ATs over to redside. You seem to be unique, someone who actually likes redside. (I do too, actually... ) A Scrapper or Blaster would be able to deal way more damage than a Tanker or Corruptor, and maybe even be more soloable as well. (The Scrapper definately would be, the Blaster would depend on your playing style)

Honestly, I would just try as many ATs as you can. That's what this game is best at, letting you create lots of alts. And don't worry about elemental powers, just come up with a concept that fits. You may find that a Controller or Dominator fits what you are looking for. (Both can do LOTS of damage in the right hands) It all depends on what works well for you.

Thanks for all the advice.

As far as severs go, I'm currently on Virtue, but I don't mind going to another if one has a higher red population.

I like playing lots of different things, just wasn't sure what was going to fit me.

Two of you all mentioned MM with Bots, going to try that out for a bit and see how it works. I'll probably end up making a Brute as well since reading up on them a bit more.

I'm a bit of an altaholic since I like to try everything out eventually, was making this thread for advice so I could have a charicter I could solo mostly for a long while to learn the game basics before trying to get into a group and having no clue how to do anything.

As for coming up with a concept that fits for elemental type powers, I honestly didn't even think of that, not a bad idea at all, even if most of them still don't apeal to me for the most part, no reason I shouldn't try them out, I might supprise myself.

Virtue actually has a high redside population. I think you've just gotten unlucky.

Join one of the global teaming channels and you'll find that a lot more opportunities pop up. Virtue LFG Alpha for example.

I also play on Virtue and if you're online I'll be happy to assist.

Freedom is great for newer players. You can find a team instantly, and a vg instantly. HUGE N00bie population but there also is a good amount of vets still there. Some of the best khelds are on that server as well. Any toon you have now till the end up January can be transferred there too! We get 6 free server transfers a week till the end of the month so hurry!!! Freedom is probably the most active server in the game too. To transfer your toon, click "Buy server transfer" underneath the character menu. Don't worry it won't cost you anything. Ignore the warnings and choose your server you want to transfer to, once you chose the server click "Use free transfer tokens" or what ever it is called.

Some servers like pinnacle lack red side activity that is in the lower levels. I use to use Justice as my primary villain server back in the day but I am just to obsessed with my main and always have been.

WELCOME TO THE GAME

Please don't take this the wrong way (but I'm not sure how to phrase it more gently) -

You have read too much advice on the forums!

Seriously, as Muon already said, sometimes stuff (in this case, how much higher level mobs resist Lethal) gets overstated. in this game, most times, the difference between one thing and another is a relatively "small" percentage, making something take a bit longer rather than become "unpossible".

But you also have a good start into solving the problem you are seeing - a willingness to try other alts. You will find one that fits you.

BTW, I found MMs harder to learn how to play compared with a Brute or Corruptor. Managing pets was so different from managing a single character. For that reason, I would *not* recommend starting out with a MM, especially if you do want the occasional PuG.

But I also recommend that you go ahead and join groups, just explain that you are new. My experience has been that you will find many players who want to expound on how to play, etc., and if you let them, they will take lots of time to explain how to work in the group. If you fall into a group unwilling to do that, quit the team and find someone else. Joining a teaming global channel will help there.

Heroside, I found that playing a Blaster was a good way to learn how teams operate - you can stand back a bit and watch how the other ATs do their thing. To some extent, you can do that with a Corruptor villainside, if you play one with a secondary that can buff/debuff quickly so you can go back to blasting.

I'd actually recommend a fire/dark corruptor redside for starting out. Fairly intuitive, a good early heal, and some decent damage. Just don't ignore tar patch.

I'll also mention that I play Infinity redside, but I haven't been on redside as much because I've been working on developing blueside characters. While I like infinity, I'm not sure I'd move from Virtue to Infinity if you're looking for more players. If you do decide to move to infinity, shoot me a tell. My global is the same as my handle. I have a few new character concepts I wouldn't mind rolling redside now.

The first character I played was a dark/dark corruptor. About a week of casual playing later, and I had promptly deleted it, replacing it with a fire/dark corruptor because I wanted more damage (the snipe was a huge letdown after watching this awesome charge-up animation). Although I never did finish my fire/dark corr, it felt faster and fireball is just loads of fun.

I'll second the advice on brutes. Pick one that looks cool to you (don't think about numbers - you can do that later). Just start smashing things. If you have trouble, you can come back and ask for more advice, but somehow, I think you'll be fine.

The key is to make alts. Lots of them, with different powers and combinations. Once you get a grasp of how each plays, then you'll be in a better position to make informed decisions on what primary goes with what secondary to suit your playstyle and competence.

Also get Mids. It's a great resource on how a power actually performs as opposed to relying on misleading in-game power descriptions.

Also, don't forget to use paragon wiki to get some background on ATs, powers, missions, backstory on enemies, etc.

I will agree with Ad Astra. Masterminds are NOT an AT to jump into cold. They can be a lot of fun when played right, but they are their own animal, and totally different from any other AT in the game. And you really do need to take a lot of time setting up keybinds to maximize your control.

It's not that MMs can't be an AT you introduce yourself to the game with, but it's not really the best choice. I'd definately try out the Brute. But don't abandon your MM, you can probably get through the early levels with just basic Corruptor/Defender strategies, without having to get in too deep.

Welcome to the game! Its nice to see new players, even 6 years into launch. When I first started villain side (about 3 months ago) I tried several different servers and finally settles on Freedom. I now have all of my main toons on there.
As far as ATs redside go for a new player. I have to agree w/ MMs not being a good starting point, although its a good way to throw urself into the fire so to speak. Brutes and Corruptors are the easiest to start up. I would also put Stalker in that category. You seem to like the weapons so I might suggest a Ninja Blade/Claws/Broad Sword Stalker and you can run through a lot of missions. Willpower or Ninjitsu for secondaries are probably the easiest to use early on. Pretty much set it and forget it.
ALL ATs in this game can solo effectively as long as you play to the strengths of the sets. Obviously you're not going to be taking your Bow and Arrow into the middle of a spawn of baddies, but that huge hammer you have will probably work..lol.
You may also want to make 2 of the same set toons on both redside and blueside so you can see the difference between the heroes/villains. A Super Strength/Invulernability Brute will play MUCH different than a Tank even though they have the same powers.

You can hit me up anytime on Freedom @ DarthVernon

I have a Brute/Stalker/Dominator/and Corrupter on that server and would be more than happy to team with ya. Enjoy!

Welcome to the game.

My first 50 was a katana/regen scrapper. Katana has your weapon, does really good damage and has nice unlocks in the future. While /regen gives you a heal, kb and sleep protection and extra enurance if you need. Very easy to solo with.

As far as MM's go, my first was a thug/dark. It got very easy in the mid 30's. I ended up deleting him.

The only server i play on is Justice. If you visit, look for the Justice United channel. TF's everyday, teams, weekly Hami and Mothership raids. And an occasional farm, if i'm on. lol.

I disagree with MasterMinds being difficult. Solo-wise anyway they are beasts, especially when you start getting more henchmen. Bots are quite useful, I ran bots/traps back in the day and it was awesome soloing through entire waves of enemies without too much hassle even on the higher difficulties.

I view MM's as sort of a tactical class, you're not supposed to hang back or rush forward but rather mix and match as the situation demands it.

Team-wise they're quite useful too, I used to duo with a good friend of mine on red-side and it was excellent fun steam-rolling everything that appeared in front of us. It was intense since we both liked a challenge and ended up putting the difficulty so far up we had purples nearly every single mission which, led to a lot of patience in taking down enemies.

In my view they're quite versatile. If you start one it's good to take it slow (as always anyway) and enjoy the game while learning gradually how to utilise the MM in both solo/team play. Once you're confident with it, it's quite easy to crank up the difficulty just to see how well you can cope with the excesses of enemies and so forth. If you ever get a friend to duo with, it's even better. One of the best things for me duoing back then was he, like me, took the time to read missions and text and generally progress together at a relaxed pace.

As a MM, patience is a virtue for world-conquest

Welcome to the game, Jinse.

As Ad Astra said, you've read too much on the forums.

My claws/sr and kat/wp have no problem taking it to the enemy, and in most situations surpassing my Spines/Dark and DM/SR against the same mobs.

As far as masterminds go, I love the idea, and I love the concept of one character controlling a bunch of pets, but personally, I get bored of watching the game play itself.

I'm still going to try it again when Going Rogue launches, as the idea of a Demon Summoning mm on hero side is just too much to pass up.

If you're ever on Freedom, look me up (global is in my sig).

Thank you once again for all the advice, I've started playing on Freedom red side.

I've tried Brute, and its okay, nothing to complain about, but I kinda went against the advice on starting an MM first.

I fell in love with bot/dark, I may not be the best at controlling the little buggers but setting them on defensive/follow and running into a group of creatures so I can spam twilight on them seems to work.

Only level 17 so far but dies a lot less then the Brute I started to, as in Brute died 4 or 5 times between 1 and 6, MM died twice so far, both in teams that took on a full room+boss and everyone wiped.

Suffice to say, even now I still don't know much about the game, like what the heck is an IO and SO ect?

Still planning on leveling my Brute up, might end up being more fun once I get past the "dies if I don't have any heal inspitations".

Oh I finally figured out how to set a chat handle so I'm now @Jinse on freedom. Thats a neat change for me, used to most other games where you base it off charicter names.

Hey Jinse!

TO is Training Origin
DO is Dual Origin
SO is Single Origin, available at level 22+
IO is Invention Origin, which are usually a part of a set, which gives additional bonuses, and never needs to be replaced, ie, you never outlevel them.
Unless you use the common IOs which are not part of a set, but they also are never outleveled for the most part.

Common IOs can be bought from workbenches and crafted, much like set IOs, but when you have a full IO set in one power, you get the added benefits of that set.

You can slot any enhancement up to +3 over your current level, so at 22 you can slot 25's for example.

Edit: Just wanted to add, your global name, @Jinse, will let your global (not server) friends, see you on every server, and regardless of which side you're on, be it hero or villian.

Also just as a sugestion if you arent sure about weather to solo or team i would use an energy/willpower tank. They are very tough and hard to kill so as long as you arent insane it will be difficult to die no matter what you do. Im not a big redside player so i cant really help you there unless you want to team with my lvl 5 stalker on guardian or lvl 20 mm on freedom if you do just send me a message i check the forums frequently itll have to be a weekend though i have school.

My advice to a new player...

Masterminds: Check out Sandolphons binds and use them. They bind all your pet commands to the keypad. I just use the simple cut and paste text binds listed in the thread and it is amazing.

Brutes: You're going to suck until 20. Realistically this applies to most every AT I guess. At low levels you do not have enough attacks to get a good attack chain going, and even if you did, you don't have the stamina management tools to use it for more than a fight or two (regen scrappers notwithstanding). By 20 you should have enough attacks to at least be functional most of the time and most importantly you get access to the Stamina power in the Fitness pool. For most characters you want this as close to 20 as you can manage, and you want to 3 slot it with Endurance Modification enhancements. Once you get it, and especially once you slot it... the game completely opens up.

IMO they really need to revamp the sub20 levels. If you don't have vet attack powers it's just a nightmare, and stam issues only compound the issue (Warmace/Shield brute... lawl, 2 fights and out of stam, sometimes before the second fight is over.)

Omg, Sandolphon's MM numpad binds:

USE THEM

they make the MM experience so much better. I ran a thugs/poison MM till the mid-40s, and i could send in the bruiser, tell my enforcers to attack, leave the thugs in bodyguard, and cast neurotoxic breath and single-target debuffs without breaking a sweat.

there is really good advice from all the posters here. I will plug Mid's Hero Designer like someone did before (http://www.cohplanner.com/). It's a really nice way to look ahead at powersets, what powers you might take when, and whenever you decide to get into it, make builds using the IO database it has.

Welcome, and enjoy!