It's i19--what do you think of the "classic" powersets?

Of course many different powersets have been offered up since the beginning, so I was thinking today about the sets and, particularly, the combos that used to be staples "back in my day." What are your thoughts about them now? (I started in i3, so I think of the Heroes as the classics. Your point of view may differ)

Do you still love your Fire tank and think it is "one of the fastest ways to 50"?

Do Spines/Regen Scrappers still make you want to rip into a villain?

Is your Fire/Kin Troller always the leader of your team and do fight with him while others doorsit because you are just that good?

What do you consider to be the classics and do you find them just as fun as you did years ago?

One of the reasons I asked is that I actually find myself surprised at how much I enjoy some of my first toons, still. While other sets that were popular didn't fit me then or now (like Broadsword/Dark Scrapper--he was created in i3 or i4 and is only lvl 35 now!).

I find myself playing the heck out of my Katana/Invul Scrapper and my SS/Invul Tank and they were both in my first 5 toons ever created.

I am finding my first hero, my first defender (Forcefield/Psy) with the uncommon Nerve alpha slot for extra defense is gratifying. The base accuracy of foes is usually 50%, but the +4s in the incarnate missions are starting out at over 60% so every scrap of defense counts!

My first five toons? Not much other than my main.

1st - Katana/Inv, I really like it and have spent a lot of time optimizing it. Also my badge hunter so he gets played quite a bit.
2nd - Peacebringer, I think I last played him properly when ITF was released and stopped playing after that. Just feels weak compared to my other characters.
3rd - Ninjas/Dark MM, while quite powerful I just can't bring myself to playing it because I don't really like micromanaging the henchies. I leveled him up by doing paper missions pretty much exclusively so I get bored whenever I even look at him.
4th - Ice/Ice Blaster, rerolled as Ice/MM after Blasters got /MM. Fits the concept better and now I actually like playing her.
5th - MA/Regen Scrapper I think. MA was weak before the recent buffs and I never really got into liking Regen. Moved to an inactive server with a free transfer.

I like my newer characters much more. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that many of my new characters have synergistic set combinations which makes them stronger, and I play this game because I like strong characters.

Oh, and Fire/Kins? I do have one (abandoned a loooong time ago) and I can't bring myself to play Fire Control or Kinetics anymore because of farming the heck out of one. Fire/Kins aren't even that good, they're great against certain enemy groups but nothing much above average against most. In fact, they're way too specialized for solo play and I hate SBing every two minutes in teams.

Actually, with I19 I'm finally giving my older alts updated respecs for the first time since basically I9. My first three in particular, which I've continued to play off and on since I first started the game, are Energy/Energy (blaster), MA/SR, and Illusion/Radiation. Each one is getting a state of the art IO build and Alpha slotting. My MA/SR is becoming as tough as I can make her, my En/En is becoming a speed demon, and my Ill/Rad is going back to her AV-killer roots including true perma PA (technically, "true" perma PA for aggro control has to reduce PA recharge to 57 seconds to account for cast time and the new PA generating at least one attack and that requires +321% recharge total in slotting and global recharge).

There's a lot of life in the old gals still.

The following are my original 5 toons of each "classic" AT;

Forcefield/Radiation : Although, I have since learned to fully appreciate the FF set, I would not play this combination again. I have played FF/Nrg into the low 30s though and had a blast with it. ((First Def to 20 : Rad/Elec, First 50 : Emp/Elec))

Martial Arts/Super Reflexes : I really, really, wanted to like this combo (sorry, huge Spiderman fan), but it completely sucked in I1. Did not go back to MA OR SR for a long time, but my current #1 is a Martial Arts/Willpower. Willpower was a Home Run for the Devs. ((First Scrap to 20 : MA/WP))

Fire Armor/ Energy Melee : This combination was really fun for about 12 levels. Every issue that went by made me like it less and less. I prayed for Martial Arts fixes and watched as FA was nerfed instead. Don't think that I would try this one again, because of my favorite blaster being energy. My current favorite Tanker is Shield / Super Strength. ((First Tank to 20 : WP/Fire, First 50 : WP/Fire))

Energy Blast / Energy Manipulation : Loved this one the first time I played it, and STILL love everything about it. I have no idea why he is not level 50 yet. Hmmm, maybe because he is my testing toon. Defender, no wait Blaster, uhm, yeah Defender, darn it Blaster is more fun. ((First Blast to 20 : NRG/Dev))

Earth Control / Storm Summon : I really liked this combination (still do really), but the endurance drain is horrible and the lag it created back in the beginning was pretty bad too. I recently tried it again, but I am really enjoying my Plant/Storm many times better. ((First Con to 20 : ILL/RAD ))

So, only My Blaster and Defender are "Classic" combinations (Only the blaster remains as my original choice, but has been tried as a FF/Nrg a couple times as well). My Tanker, Scrapper and Controller all use newer sets, and my Tanker is a total departure from the original Tanker that I wanted to play.

I still like the old power sets better. They truly were designed around SO use. The devs say that the new powers set are designed around SOs but you can tell they are designed for SO use but with IO use in mind.

Most of my current line-up are toons with classic powersets: SS/Elec Brute, Fire/Rad Corr, Mind/Energy Dom and MA/Nin Stalker. Only the Demons/Therm MM and Spines/WP Stalker have 'recent' powersets

My first character is Maurya, my En/Elec/Elec Blaster, recently respecced to I19 inherent fitness, unlocked the Incarnate slot, and my main crafter who is the sugar momma of her SG. I've never quit playing her, might be pulling her out this weekend for an STF.

My other 4 are:

Fire/Fire Tanker, stalled in the upper 20s, but looking forward to running with inherent fitness with her, since I can now fit in a few other powers to fill a hole here or there;

Katana/Regen Scrapper, almost 50, played in bursts of a few weeks here or there, but still loads of fun;

Stone/Axe Tanker - deleted. I never could get into Stone Armor.

Dark/Rad/Dark Defender, my second 50, who hit 50 over 2 years after Maurya. She was unfortunately a WL Baby, so I had to learn a whole lot more about how to play a defender before I could level her above the level she hit that first winter event.

Out of 60 or so alts, I still play lots of "classic" sets, including some relatively new alts like my baby Elec/Elec blaster and Kin/Elec Defender.

And there are some of the new "sexy" powersets I've never rolled into a new alt.

Eh, my first characters were more experiments after coming over from another MMO. I still have them sitting on a server I don't use but honestly, don't have any desire to play them.

1st Emp/Psi defender. Because I wanted to be able to join teams (teaming was hard in that other fantasy game) but AFAIK, she's still lvl 28 with the only pool being flight.

2nd MA/DA scrapper. Primarily because fighting with Martial Arts sounded cool and Armor made of Darkness sounded neat. Didn't like him tho.

3rd Eng/Eng blaster. Because I started to get the gist of the character creator and the types of ATs and tried making an Iron Man-inspired character. Got him into the 30s but honestly never actually came up with a concept for him.

Energy blast and Empathy seem to be pretty classic for me.

If you want to go classic, look at sets like Spines that are only still in because of the grandfather clause- they're too different from the norm for the devs to release them today, and have things that set them apart from the new shinies.

A lot of the Dark sets still seem delightfully weird and hard to classify, with their consistent but varied effects and distinctive look.

I have a lot of old characters as you'd expect after being here going on 6 years now. One of my favorites is still my namesake and first 50, CMA, an Invuln/Stone tanker. He was an absolutely unkillable engine of destruction in issue 4 (Old school hard capped resist to all and massive defense along with attacks 6 slotted with pre-nerf 50% Acc/Dam HO enhancements), lived through the MASSIVE nerfs of issue 5 and 6... anyone who wasn't here at that time may not realize just how huge those nerfs were... and finally he got back to close to his former glory with the IO system and the buffs of issue 13. He was my first incarnate and is still one of my most played characters.

I've also an Ill/Rad controller of much more recent vintage who I have a lot of fun with; he's by far the fastest character I have for soloing tip and radio missions. When I got him to 206% global recharge and perma-PA he became a fantastic character.

I pulled out my old Dark/Dark defender for the incarnate content and was once again impressed by just how effective he was at absolutely gutting the enemy's tohit. He's pretty poor solo due to limited damage but he really brings a lot of mitigation and power to a team.

My Spine/Regen soloed the incarnate arc with no appreciable difficulty; yes he's somewhat squishy but he's highly effective if played well.

All in all I've run 10 of my 16 level 50's through the incarnate arc and have alpha slotted most of them; I've been quite pleased with just how well some of these old retired characters have done once I got them away from their rocking chairs, respec'd for i19 and back into the fray.

My first 50, Ice/Ice Blaster, is still my favorite character. I'll be surprised if the Devs can create a combo that I would enjoy more*. I also have a number of classic combos that I still enjoy, like an Ice/Ice Tanker, Elec/Nrg Blaster, Ice/Storm Controller and Bot/Trap MM. I have recently started up a few new characters to play around with, and so far I'm enjoying them as well: DP/MM Blaster, DA/DB Tanker and an Elec/Earth Dom.

I think that most all of the classic sets are still very solid, but the newer sets do show a more experienced design behind them. Even with the newer sets, there is still some life left in some of the classic sets due to power set proliferation. I also think that there's still a few new ATs that can be added in.

* The only thing that I can think of that might trump my Ice/Ice Blaster would be the ability to create an Elec Manip/Ice Manip Blaster. And I don't see that becoming available any time soon.

My top 5 50 starting from the oldest

1 - BS/Inv Scrap
2 - Kat/Reg Scrap
3 - Claws/Reg Scrap
4 - Claws/SR Scrap
5 - Inv/EM Tank???

The Tank might have been 3 or 4. Can't really remember now since I stopped playing him when they changed ET. Those 4 scrappers are still being played with decent IO builds
Yes I loves me some scrappers....

My fastest to 50 was my Claws/Reg, though it looks like that will be over taken by my current level 46 SS/FA Brute

Zeroth character: Angelson, inv/mace, didn't make it past level 7. Still around... somewhere.

First character, first 50: Boltcutter, BS/Inv, retired and yells at kids to get off his lawn and back when HE was a kid there was none of this wussy dying to fifty +4s and tanks could take naps under two, three hundred guys and Wonk wonk WONK wonk wonk...

Second character: Boom Baby [renamed when moved to another server], En/Fire blaster. Made 50 after five years for sentimental reasons. After literally a dozen tries, that combo still does not work for me, or possibly anyone.

Third Character [?] : S-Orbital, FF/Elec Defender (the theme is "hamsterballs"), still regularly played.

After that it gets a little mixed up. I play a LOT of classic sets. (Some days it feels like mostly Fire/* blasters...)

I still support a lot of the classics. Never went crazy for [most] of the FoTM builds- I did run a spine/dark scrapper and a couple of Rad/Sonic [ok, not classic] defenders. And my Fire/Rad corruptor is ridiculous fun, but that might be the costume and backstory. No ill/rads, fire/kin, burntanks... I did try a fire/dev blaster but that was years after the smoke grenade fix [deleted], and I did finally try an Inv/SS tank years after they put limits on AOE's.

I guess if we were going with true classics, in at the start of the game, you'd need one with no epic set. That means I don't have any TRUE classic 50's.

My Emp/Rad defender, first character made and first to 50 is still my main. I also have the most influence invested in him.

Before Issue 5, Fire/Device Blasters were awesome because you six slot attack powers for all damage, using Targeting Drone to raise your accuracy... one day, I'll go back to my neglected level 30 Blaster and push him to 50. Why haven't I deleted him? He's my first ever alt when I started playing City of Heroes.

Currently playing a super neglected Issue 8 BS/Dark Scrapper...

In all honesty everything I have I like and I enjoy playing. Every character I play for me is unique, has their own background. a reason why they are the way they are and why they play the way they play.

Fire/Fire tanks.. still fun..
Nrg/Nrg Blaster.. still fun
Elec/Elec Blaster...still fun
Rad/Rad defender.. still fun
Inv/Nrg tank// still fun..