PUG Toon?

Howdy folks. I ask you, the masses, what would be a great AT and build for a PUG only toon and why. Tons of knockback to grate on peeps? More of a support roll? Hope for fallout fodder? What do you folks think?

Perhaps I should clarify. I solo for the most part. Actually, exclusivly. Reason being, all of the people in my friends list have dissapeared over time. As such, I roll toons that are very capable and self reliant. Now, go figure, I kinda itch to get back into teaming a bit, and quick PUGs look like the best route for my time constraints.

Now I realize that all toons are fun and do extremely well in teams. Of course, the better quality of the team, the better you will do. What I am looking for is a toon that doesn't necesarliy have to do it all on its own, that can add alot of fun, but doesnt have to watch over everyone else like a hawk to make sure they are still okay. Not really into the buff bot thing. Also not too interested in a team leading tank or anything. I love tanks, but aggro managment is not for me.

Thanks,
SD

I would think an uber controlling toon would be fun as PUG only - some ice or earth controller who would need to use all their myriad AoE abilities to keep a team alive.

The kind of character that will be fun for you to play.

If you plan on leading PuGs, a fast movement power and Recall Friend are always good powers, but any AT can have them (this makes for getting to missions and re-assembling the team at the mission door faster).

Watching teammates to make sure they are okay is often an individuals decision. Of course, if you are built to as a support character - expect them to expect you to watch out for them.

Seriously. You can play any kind of character and enjoy PuG'ing. I PuG 80-90% if the time at this point. 95% if pug-ing means that someone on the team isn't part of one of my SGs.
I have enough variety of characters to know that you don't have to build a character a certain way in order to lead a PuG or enjoy being part of one.

Sounds like you would be happier playing a Blaster or a Scrapper to me.

If you just want to be annoying to your teammates (this could be considered harassment in one of the few ways that could actually get you into trouble in this game), plan on being kicked form PuGs if you are not the team leader and expect people to quit your team if you are.

Pick an AT with access to one of the following...

KIN or Radiation Emission


...you just got invited to a team!

Are you talking blueside?

Most Defenders and Controllers are pretty welcome. If you can dish something out to the team once you arrive, you'll do well.
Kinetics, Sonic, Force Fields and Cold all tend to make the other PUG-ers instantly happy, myself included.

Storm can raise a few eyebrows from knockbakc haters
Trick Arrows doesn't keep a bad PUG alive as easily as some other sets.
Empathy makes you play favourites, and there may be some odd backlash "healzor" hate from some people.

I'd give Sonic Resonance a whirl, its a great team set. It keeps the team safe if they're all Blasters, but also provides a good offence boost when you get on a lower damage team.
Defender or Controller, you take your pick.

I'll echo The_Alt_oholic in saying whatever you want to play. Defenders, Controllers or Tankers make good picks just because they fill a common niche that PUG players look for (especially very inexperienced PUG players), so being one of those may help things flow more smoothly. Kheldians also make great team leaders since they can often pinch-hit in several roles and may be something new and interesting for some new PUG players.

However, in my experience the one thing people (both newbie and veteran) want in a PUG leader is efficiency. Most people do not care what you are so long as you keep the team moving briskly from mission to mission and keep the XP flowing. You don't even have to be all that stellar at playing your character (helps if you're at least competent though) - if you do well at the administration of team leadership, that's all people really want. People hate leading teams and will be very happy if you do it for them.

I've never had a problem forming at leading PUG teams for as long as I was inclined to play, simply because I'm not afraid of the leadership role.

Try a Plant / Storm Controller. I absolutely love playing mine in PUGs, the bigger the team the better. You don't have to worry about watching over your teammates (aside from maybe tossing out an O2 Boost here and there), you just focus on keeping as many enemies as possible immobilized while shooting at each other in a Freezing Rain patch. Plant / Storm has lots of fun powers, but even if all you do is hit every spawn with Seeds of Confusion, Freezing Rain, and your AoE immobilize and then spam holds on a boss you add a lot to the team.

Redside, roll a Crab. Mez prot, some popular team buffs, sturdy and because you can build it however you like. St, aoe or even melee focused, or a generalist.

I would say a /kin or /rad or /pain with team support powers ie;recall friend,leadership,maybe medicine.

With the wild assumption that puggies are inexperienced, sometimes flash is better than substance. Fire/ blasters have flash and substance. An /electric tank has the groovy looks. Stone/ controllers have the big flash too. But, dang, that crap is loud in my headphones.

You really want them to think you're a god? Katana/ or BS/. Maybe throw shield in there. Take a purple and CJ into the middle of a spawn.

Also, anything that causes KU on 5+ enemies is good. Slot acc, acc, acc.

I think healers are overrated/not fun to play. And everyone loves a SB vending machine, so /kin is there IFF the leader knows what their recruiting. No one ever notices AM.

Great name.

Well, you could always play a build that has lots of grief potential, so that you'd be extremely helpful, but the very same powers could also let you screw with your own team from time to time.

I'm talking about a Gravity/Force Field controller.

You can use your powers in a helpful way, and that's all well and good, but lets look at the ways in which avarice or incompetence can hurt a team.

Propel -- knock foes into aggro range of other groups. Bonus points for doing this to an enemy that has a toggle on it that will aggro more groups simply by being knocked into them.

Dimension Shift -- make entire packs of enemies immune to harm. Confound your allies, make them wait, etc.

Wormhole -- move enemies into places that will get the team in trouble, or 'accidentally' move foes out of kill zones. Or move extra ones in to see if the team can handle it.

Singularity -- Whoops. I didn't mean to summon/drag Singy through those guys. I didn't mean to scatter all the foes with my pet's repel field. Truly. My bad.

Force Bolt -- another chaos power, if used correctly. Like propel, it is good for taking a foe your allies have cast a toggle debuff on, and knocking him into another group.

Detention Field -- another intangibility power like Dimension Shift, but single target. Perfect for that last boss that is almost dead. Whoopsie!

Repulsion Field -- cast this on a scrapper so that he knocks his targets away from himself as he tries to kill them. "Sorry man, I meant to cast that on the blaster."

Repulsion Bomb -- causes knockdown instead of knockback, but its still got the chaos factor. Also, I *think* knockback IOs in this turn it into knockback, which can always be "helpful".

Force Bubble -- piss EVERYTHING off at once, and push all the foes out of the scrapper's mitts.

Personal Force Field -- for being the last man standing after an "accident". "Hey guys, why is everyone else dead?"

As for the Epics, either pick up Hibernate in Ice for yet another "last man standing" power, or go with Fire to get Rise of the Phoenix so you can survive your own mistakes, or simply go with Primal Forces so that you appear "well themed" instead of "dangerous to others."

Seriously though, I'd limit this kind of behavior to your regular friends when they seem up for a laugh or two, but you've got to admit there is a lot of potential here for fun. The best part is that these same powers (when used correctly) are VERY powerful for helping teams generally, including PUGs.

Another fun combo, btw, is Storm/Energy. I have one of those at level 50. Lots of knockback. But, you know, people are immediately suspicious when they see that combo. Grav/FF is sneaky, and has that honest trusting face that lets you get away with murder.

Just sayin'.

Lewis

I like the way you think. It could be a cariacture of the ultimate pug team mate. its not griefing, its rping.