Focusing on a character

So, over the past month or so I've created a whole bunch of characters, explored builds, and can't really make a hill of beans of much of it. Looking through my roster I think part of the problem is I have to much going on. I wanted to try and narrow it down (just for a little bit). Since I have no idea how difficult certain sets are, I thought about letting the community weigh in on what might be the most "straightforward" build and playstyle options might be. Here's what I got going:

Kenetic Melee/Super Reflexes Scrapper
Ice Armor/Ice Melee Tanker
Mace/Willpower Brute
Dual Pistols/Devices Blaster
Assault RifleEnergy Manipulation Blaster
Soldier of Arachnos (ready for respec)
Arachnos Widow

With the exception of the Scrapper and the Soldier most of these characters are mostly untouched. I had a loft of conceptual ideas so I cranked them out during the seven year celebration, now I just have to find a way to build some of them. I was leaning towards taking out my Assault Rifle Blaster if master of cones is still viable because that sounded fun and easy to build. My other top option is the tanker for some reason, I just like him. My Soldier has so many options he's kind of fried my brain as of present. Crab/Huntsman/Bane, multiple ways to do each *mind blown* A cookie-cutter character would be nice right about now, at least till I know how to pick/slot powers. Always been clueless on the build part, I'm more of a gameplay guy. In the meantime I'll continue to play with mids, that's turned into a game of it's own. I really hope my Soldier turns out to be something I enjoy *goes back to contemplating respec*

Well, to me you've already answered your own question.

Work on the tank "because you enjoy him."

When you're ready for another, get yourself on a set team that meets, say, once a week and plays for a few hours, work on another when you're not doing that (I'd say Mace/WP just for smashy goodness and straightforward fun.)

See my Guides and Tutorials

If you like tanking, the ice tank is quite fun to play--and it's pretty rare too, which has it's own benefit IMO. It doesn't cost all that much to make a decent build with it, either, which is nice.

In the end, it all comes down to what you get the most fun out of playing. That's the one you should spend time/money on--not the one that comes out nicest on mids.

I'm going to echo the "play they one you enjoy most" sentiment.

As far as builds and slotting goes, if you're unsure which powers to take and how to slot them, getting someone's generic build and playing that may well be counter-productive. With any combination of powers, there's a multitude of different ways to slot and play a character.

As an extreme example, if you got a build for the Mace/WP brute from someone who LOVED knockback, and slotted every knockdown power so things went flying, and added the Chance for Knockback proc to all the stun attacks, but you hated Knockback, you'd quickly learn to hate the character. But if the build matched your preferences, you might love it instead.

Ask questions here on the forums (in the AT specific subforums is the best spot), or if you have in-game friends experienced with the sets, ask them. Play with the powers that sound most interesting and see how they work for you. Slot Single Origin enhancements - if you slot in a way that doesn't work for you, they're a lot cheaper to replace than most inventions. Once you've got a better idea of what you want from the powers, you can begin working with inventions to make the powers even better. And don't worry about making mistakes - respecs are handed out for free fairly often, you can earn up to 3 from trials, and based on your registration date, you probably even have one or two vet respecs. I learned more from respeccing my first character (a LOT of times ) than I did from the rare build troll who declared that my build sucked, my character sucked, and I sucked because I didn't take X power, or because I did take another.

Once you understand what you're doing, you'll be able to look at someone elses's build and know what THEY are doing. And this could save you a lot of money by avoiding a build that doesn't play to your preferences.

As far as specific build advice goes, I haven't played or have played and didn't enjoy several of the sets you have listed. I'm playing an Ice tank now, but he's too low level for me to give good advice with. I've seen them played, and they can be really effective. Willpower's Rise to the Challenge relies on enemies being up close to you. Don't slot the Mace attacks for knockback, or you'll reduce your own survivability. Mace is endurance heavy, so it's worth slotting both Quick Recovery and Stamina. My soldier is a Bane, and I love it. Many of the attacks are similar to War Mace, with a few ranged attacks mixed in. I recommend not taking too many gun powers on a Bane though - the constant redraw will get frustrating. And there's nothing quite like sneaking up to a Boss, hitting Build Up, and hearing a sickening CRUNCH as your mace hits his face and he drops like a sack full of bricks.

Ultimately, pick the one you like best, and pick the powers you like best. If the powers aren't what you expected, add a few slots and see if that helps. If it still doesn't work for you, respec, or switch to a second build. This game is very forgiving of "bad" builds.

The scrapper's really simple: Work on enhancing your defensive toggles, set your Status Protection on autofire and then punch stuff with your NASCAR Fists of Doom*. Since your secondary is pretty one dimensional and your primary is mainly single target melee, it's kind of hard to get off course on your build without some effort on your part.

The other advice is all good as well but I think the Scrapper wins the "straight forward" award. Willpower & Ice Armor are more multifaceted than Super Reflexes.


*Maybe slightly more to it but really not much.

I LOVE Ice Armor. I have an Ice/KM. Ice is very tough and very cheap to make that way. As far as ice melee, i think ice patch is the best part of it. I'd go DM or SS for some extra goodies. Like a Heal, or Rage.

Welcome to the game!

One warning: People often post "suggested builds" that are ... not for new players. That's a kind way to put it.

There should be "Suggested build" bingo:
The free space in the middle is "Designed for level 50."
Some of the other spaces:
- Costs ten billion inf [Everything's free in Mid's Hero Designer!]
- Works really badly when you exemplar down [e.g. under level 28 has only one attack]
- Math Does Not Add Up
- Only includes the data chunk from Mid's, not the actual slotting
- Important powers slotted for set bonuses, not actual functionality

I'm going to give you some "Very new player" advice. Some of this is bad advice if you're an advanced player- but it will work well enough.
1) Pretend there is no Invention System, for starters. Sell every piece of salvage and every named recipe for 1 inf. If it stays on the Auction House for more than ten seconds, take it back and sell it to a vendor.
2) You should have enough inf that you can always afford to have white-to-green enhancements: single-origin at level 22, dual-origin at level 12. This works because Wentworth's prices are so very much higher than store prices; you can give people good bargains and still have plenty of money.
3) Slot your attacks for two accuracy, as many damage as you can get [DO's] and one accuracy, three damage [SO's]; slot your defensive toggles (Defense, Resistance, Heals) for their main function with DO's, and "one End, three main function" with SO's.
4) Hit stuff!

... oh, I didn't answer the actual question. If you like the ice tank, play the ice tank! The Mace/Willpower brute will be simple and strong. The blasters will be fairly simple and very strong in the early levels, and suddenly you'll start getting killed a lot. (If it was me I'd play the rifle instead of the pistols, because I hate Devices. You are not me, so this advice may not apply to you.)
I don't have enough experience with Soldiers and Widows to talk about them intelligently.