Returning player looking for advice


Amy_Amp

 

Posted

Greetings,

somehow, I ended back at CoX after about 3 year's absence :-O Naturally, I have no idea what's going on :-) Thus, a few quick questions. Thanks in advance for any answers.

1) My three 'mains', each in their 30s, are scrappers: claws/regen, katana/SR, dual blade/WP. Are those still more or less regarded as sensible pairings or did changes in the past years totally ruin any of these?

2) I've thought about starting a new char to experience Preatoria and reacquaint myself with the game. Given that I will (by choice and time constraints) mostly be out and about solo, what would be useful pairings for that (perhaps even to take a char from 1-50)? I generally prefer dmg dealing to tanking and power sets with less micromanaging. Self healing is (was?) always nice. Due to limited time, something that does not require the very best augmentations to work would be nice. I realise this is awfully broad, but some general pointers would be very much appreciated - I already have a lot of reading to do to catch up.

2.a) More specifically. Could the new powersets (kinetic melee, dual pistol...) be something to look at? Some early research led me to a plants/fire dominator as an interesting concept; and apparently quite playable.

3) Anything I should definitely learn about before making my choice? Hero/villain 'attunement' - any definite pro/con for one or the other?

Well, gotta go back to reading. Thanks for your time.
- Flowergnome


 

Posted

[QUOTE=Flowergnome;3701036]1) My three 'mains', each in their 30s, are scrappers: claws/regen, katana/SR, dual blade/WP. Are those still more or less regarded as sensible pairings or did changes in the past years totally ruin any of these?

All still good. Redraw on the claws/regen might be an issue for some people, but that's not new and I run a Broadsword/Regen and it's not too bad.

Since you like melee and damage, you really NEED to make yourself a shield defense character. Scrapper, Brute or tank, doesn't matter, but give one a shot. You'll love it.

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2) I've thought about starting a new char to experience Preatoria and reacquaint myself with the game. Given that I will (by choice and time constraints) mostly be out and about solo, what would be useful pairings for that (perhaps even to take a char from 1-50)? I generally prefer dmg dealing to tanking and power sets with less micromanaging. Self healing is (was?) always nice. Due to limited time, something that does not require the very best augmentations to work would be nice. I realise this is awfully broad, but some general pointers would be very much appreciated - I already have a lot of reading to do to catch up.
Just a caution: Praetoria is FAR more difficult than paragon or the rogue isles. Several of the factions have powers you don't expect until much higher level. Ghouls, Syndicate and Destroyers to be exact.

Dark/SR is dirt cheap and very potent. Has a heal in the attacks and solid defenses. I've really enjoyed the experience in praetoria on my dominator as well. And they are more damage than control really. At least, the way I play them heh.

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2.a) More specifically. Could the new powersets (kinetic melee, dual pistol...) be something to look at? Some early research led me to a plants/fire dominator as an interesting concept; and apparently quite playable.
Plants/fire is awesome.

Dual pistols is a bit maudlin. It is in the middle of the road on damage, slow activations, some love some hate the gun-fu animations. And all the secondary effects are too small to be worth anything. Just go fire damage under all circumstances even against an enemy that resists fire.

Kinetic melee has annoying sounds. But with stacked buffs can put out some awesome damage. It plays like a slower claws really, with one ranged power a little knock, etc.

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3) Anything I should definitely learn about before making my choice? Hero/villain 'attunement' - any definite pro/con for one or the other?
On nearly all servers there is far more activity heroside. So if you like teaming, that might be a pro. Otherwise, the stories villainside were written later than the heroside so have the benefit of that experience albeit some don't like how you have to be an arachnos lackey until level 50 when you get to break with them and set your own path. I particularly like how you don't have to run all over from zone to zone redside on story arcs. Lots of the hero stuff drives me bonkers that way so I stick to hazard zones (hollows, striga, croatoa) and task forces.

But I dearly love the shadow shard and only heroes can go there.

While, yes you can go vigilante or rogue and play onboth sides, you will find that alignment merits (hero merits/villain merits) are so vastly superior as a way to get whatever loot you want to any other method, that you'll be pressured to keep at least one or two characters a dedicated hero/villain.


"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flowergnome View Post
1) My three 'mains', each in their 30s, are scrappers: claws/regen, katana/SR, dual blade/WP. Are those still more or less regarded as sensible pairings or did changes in the past years totally ruin any of these?
Granted I have IOed out and Incarnated the Kat/sr versus the Claws/regen that is just sitting at 50 with SO type slotting, but I would push the Kat/sr to 50 before the Claws/regen. /regen in it's current state is the loser of benefiting from IOs compared to other sets. Note the last part. It still gets better and is solid, but other sets benefit more from further investment. My Claws/regen solos fine for what I set it up against. It just requires more work than other sets. My DB/wp isn't high enough to say, but I can't say anything bad about it's potential either.

Please note, above all else play what is fun. My Claws/regen is my most sentimental character I have and that includes my namesake. One of the first, or 2nd tanks I get to 50 will be an Ice tank and Ice is deemed the red headed stepchild of armor sets for tanks these days. It's also fun for me and one of the easiest to get to 50 on SO type slotting. It just loses out in benefiting from IOs.

I soloed a Kin/nin stalker through Praet and I'm working on a Mind/fire. I don't recall either dying while solo. Praet. is quick and easy to solo through. The difficulties is being on teams and, or bumping the diff more than you should. Getting on a team and seeing one of those super zombie bosses at being purple to you will change your health bar in jaw dropping fashion with their double fisted attack.


 

Posted

Thanks both of you for your input. Good to know that my old chars are still viable :-)

I did some running around in Praetoria the last two days:

/SD: very nice on paper, very solid numbers - but OMG is that shield ugly, and it messes with animations like from KM in a bad, bad way :-( If I could hide that shield, yes, sold, but like this? Gah... I guess other primaries will have their animations messed up, too?

KM: really cool animations, sound is bearable (for now), but somehow if feels odd/off. Perhaps I'm just no longer used to CoX's pace. I should take my other scrappers for a spin to compare.

Plant/Fire: interesting playstyle. Never had a dom before, but I think I could actually come to like it, moreso when the synergies start to kick in (only lvl 6 so far). Guess I'll play this one for a while and see where it goes. Not that I don't already have found half a dozen other interesting build ideas browsing the forum - damn altitis ;-0

@Amy_Amp: "Please note, above all else play what is fun. My Claws/regen is my most sentimental character I have and that includes my namesake."

No worries, I will :-) And guess what my first char was? Claws/regen - she'll be in my lineup until the servers are switched off, no matter if I ever take her beyond 35.


 

Posted

Check the tailor, there are alternate ways to create the shield.


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Posted

I haven't really played around with Shield too much to notice the various animations with other sets, however, I hated how KM/sd looked and I really wanted that set to work for me due to the stacking +dmg/-dmg. SD/ss so far looks really good although it's only at 20. I think most sets will be fine. It's just KM's two handed flashy animations that really get altered.


 

Posted

Try the shield with Broadsword on a Scrapper. While this sounds dull, like every other MMO out there, it turns out to be a mechanically synergistic combo with several tools to supplement its big burst damage and lots of attractive customization options. I was surprised to find out how much I enjoyed the pairing.

Ah, found it: The Broadsword/Shield Addict thread.



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If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog

 

Posted

Put some investment in a character with IOs and anything can become effective/brutal/awesome.

Many of the 'power' characters revolve around Defender/Corrupter/Controller sets that buff damage/debuff resistance in a team environment, but even then, Scrappers still have a very useful role on the team of grabbing the aggro of potential dangerous targets and being darn near unkillable/requiring little babysitting.

Assuming you start aquiring some cash, I would slot the Achiller Heel -Res proc in your attacks on those weapon based characters (after 3 damage SOs) as it will nicely boost your damage. They're pricey, but it's something to work towards.

Praetoria is definetly a much more fun solo experience, at least for me, as it involves lots of moral choices and the story element is more involving. Tons of ambushes though, and often I'll drop the difficulty down to -1 even, just so I can solo at a nice relaxing pace rather than fighting to survive.


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Posted

If you want something completely different, try a Demons/Thermal or Demons/Dark MM. They both tend to steamroll most things even in Praetoria and Demons/Thermal has the added advantage of laughing at Destroyers and their stupid burn patches (and also Scrapyarders if you go redside, which feels great if you've tried MMs before and been flattened by Demolitionists).

As far as Scrappers go, Kin/WP might be a good choice if you hate the way Shield affects Kinetic's animations. Less damage but you'll be harder to kill (especially on a budget build). Fire/Shield is also nice and looks quite good, especially with the energy shield (looks better than the actual fire one). My personal favorite melee character is my Fire/Fire Blaster, but you really need some Blaster experience and a pretty high budget to make a PBAoE focused melee Blaster work.


Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name

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Posted

@Psylenz: the odd thing is that, unless I was completely asleep, during char gen there is no way to alter the look of the shield for KM/SD. BS/SD e.g however gets several different base shields, some of which even have options. Even with a different shield, KM/SD suffers a lot from the altered animations IMHO. Thanks anyway for the tip.

@Amy_AMP: a complete shame how KM is changed by SD, agreed. Such a nice synergy.

@Sailboat: BS? Hm, one of those primaries I never took a closer look at. One thing's for sure: tech sword with a large tech shield at least looks amazing! Thanks for the tip :-)

@Necroton_RO: indeed, Praetoria is a nice place and a fresh start. I don't think I could right now endure another round of hunting down those Circle guys hiding on the Kings Row rooftops at night ;-)

@StrykerX: Never tried a MM before, never even read about them. Pets are about the furthest from my usual preference you can get. OTOH, why not. Gonny try something new every day :-) One of the beauties of CoX - so many options. Blasters I've had a few in the past, Fire/Fire one of them. Pretty intense. An archer/something extradimensional dinosaur was another one (at least IIRC) - um, yeah, I know, I promise I didn't call him Robinosaurus Hood :-)

Thanks everybody for the input, helps me a lot!


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flowergnome View Post
@Psylenz: the odd thing is that, unless I was completely asleep, during char gen there is no way to alter the look of the shield for KM/SD. BS/SD e.g however gets several different base shields, some of which even have options. Even with a different shield, KM/SD suffers a lot from the altered animations IMHO. Thanks anyway for the tip.
You were completely asleep. My Shield Defense/Kinetic Melee Tanker had lots of options.

The only animation I don't prefer with a shield is taunt, which is a scream.


 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by MajorDecoy View Post
You were completely asleep. My Shield Defense/Kinetic Melee Tanker had lots of options.
Sure enough, I was. I checked and it's there. *slaps himself awake*