I feel so stupid at times, ROFL

I just cant freaking figure out how to build any of the classes, making builds just plain sucks to me, one day i think i understand what is going on andmi make m build ect.. BUT then Most days when i make my builds, i get stumped when i hover over the slots of my skills an it says i can slot this or this or this then i spend hours trying figure out what do, what i want to put in that slot that will give me the best benefit that will get me the best bang of that slot, i then make the build BUT too embarrassed to post the build, ROFL, oh i wish to god there was a CoH Dummies guide to making a leveling build that deals with TO, DO and SO's before you spend hours of not playing the game cause you cant figure out the IO's for your slots before lvl 50 and your sitting there for hours when you can be in the game playing, sometimes my brain damage makes me feel so stupid, ROFL, thankfully i have my kin/rad defender and rad/kin corruptor builds done with the help of others, the corruptor is fun my defender is alright but i get bored with him alot, i like to try a lot of other classes, i just wish i knew how to build properly and need to figure out what would be very fun. I think ill give up on the mastermind class, im getting a major headache tying to build one on mids ROFL, i want something really fun but easy to play, i also have my fire/storm corruptor which is fun but heck he died more than i can count so he is being shelved in the closet, LOL. So my search of the forums goes on till i find or figure out what be a fun easy class to play solo/team. I do try my hardest to make my builds but when im done making the build and i look it over im too embarrassed to post the build and get it critiqued lol

Well thats my rant for the day LOL

More spaces, better paragraphs, less ROLFing, more specific questions as to what you want help with..and I am sure people can offer ideas. As it is..your wall of text (and I use them myself) hurt my brain.

Basically...say what ATs you enjoy..try playing something you enjoy, from the start, instead of trying to force yourself to enjoy something you arent understanding.

I don't know what your playstyle is. Whatever it is, I suggest you look through the forums for people that are looking for critiques of their builds.

Generally, players with more experience will post a build that they think is better than the original one that was posted.

If you know how, cut and paste the data chunk into mids', and then look at all the enhancements you'll need. Then, roll /create a new toon that will be built like the one you just copied. Feel free to change out travel powers.

On powersets that have been out a little while, like Titan Weapons, I looked over several. I know a little about mids' and am somewhat familiar with the different sets available, so I was able to make some adjustments that weren't quite so pricy, but still be effective.

Since you are still figuring things out, I see no problem in you just trying a fire/fire brute -- or Street Justice/Electric Armor brute.

Once these toons hit level 28 and 30 respectively (which is not that hard to do) they really shine. (Any fire brute once they get burn is gonna shine bright!)

Don't use the search function in the forums. Use google and add + CoH to whatever you're looking for. The forum search engine has always been ...not very user friendly for me. Your experience may differ, however.


That's my best free advice for you. Look for builds posted by Nemu. A wizard with builds. Hyperstrike has a very sturdy, inexpensive invuln tank somewhere in these forums.
If you decide to make a fire tank, check out some of the fire tank guides to get an overview.
Read stuff until you just can't stand it. Then play the toon. Don't go to AE and get powerleveled. Even if leveling is slow for you - grind it out and try different attack chains. Make a mental note of what works well and what doesn't. If your endurance is sagging - check your stamina and see how it's slotted. Make sure you have an end reducer in your heavier attacks, at least until you get SOs at 25 or IOs at level 30. Also, don't expect to roll at +4/8 until you get your defense and resistances at a decent level. What's a decent level? I can't say - will depend on what you roll.

I very often work out a build for my character as I'm playing him, rather than before. So I end up taking powers to see what I enjoy and what works, and then when I get to 50 (or sometimes a little before), I run one of the respec trials and pick new powers and slotting for a final version (at least until the developers change something!).

As you level, you can just use whatever enhancements (TO/DO/SOs) you get from missions and from doing trials and events with other players in your powers. It's best if you can keep a good balance of at least one damage, at least one accuracy, at least one recharge reduction and at least one endurance reduction enhancement in each of your attack powers. If you feel like taking the time to do it, you can make "basic" IOs of those things, which have the advantage of not needing to be replaced.

So it's a good idea to put four slots into each of your attack powers while you're levelling. At high levels or at level 50, you'll change it.

For other click powers, like heals or controls, you'll want the same things except instead of damage you'll enhance whatever the power is for (healing, immobilization, or whatever). For toggle powers, you don't need recharge reduction or accuracy (usually), but you'll want to enhance their primary effect and probably put more endurance reduction into them.

So three or four slots for your other powers is also good. If the power doesn't take most kinds of Enhancements (for example, an auto power that gives you status effect resistances), you can skip it. For some click powers you may only need two slots, one for recharge and one for whatever the main effect of the power is (like a heal). Again, you'll change all this at 50.

I'm quite good at making melee (Stalker, Tanker, Brute and Scrapper) builds, and I can offer advice on other character builds as well. I'd like to spend more time on the Build Forum helping people, but like you said, it's pretty exhausting to make a build, and lots of people want them. To be honest, it's probably better to post in the forum of the specific archetype you're working on with your own build -- even if you think it's not very good -- asking for feedback. Some people will make fun of you, which is frustrating, but that's just how forums go.

As far as suggestions for a new character, you could always try more Corruptors; Sonic/Sonic and Dark/Dark (or a mix of Dark or Sonic with something else) are pretty straightforward and fun. I also like the Beam Rifle attack set a lot; you could even give a Defender a try for a Force Fields/Beam Rifle character. If you want to try something pretty different, you might enjoy playing a Scrapper or a Stalker. They're a bit easier to use with either the Willpower defensive set or one of the Defense-based sets (Super Reflexes, Energy Aura, Ice Armor [stalker only], Ninjitsu [stalker only], or Shield Defense [scrapper only]). Just about any of the primaries work well, although I've found Katana/Ninja Blade, Dark Melee, and Mace to be some of the most straightforward to play.

It sounds like you're already on the right track. Post your bad build on the forums and tell people what you want it to do. Get advice and make revisions. There are guides and example builds for most character types, but many are obsolete due to changes in recent issues, so direct input on your build is best.

As far as enhancements go, I haven't bothered with TOs, DOs or SOs since Issue 8. I always hated the way they had to be constantly replaced and updated or they'd quit working and leave you helpless. It's far worse today since you can level up so much faster. As soon as I can start crafting IOs (as early as level 7) I never look back.

Don't worry too much about specific builds. You really don't need to min/max to enjoy the game. Even if through playing, you f the build up bad, you have two alternate builds you can fall back on.

Once you have a better grasp of what you want to accomplish with a toon, then hit mids and try to work it out. IO stuff will come in time, you already have a ton of info to absorb. Never feel foolish posting a build, the more eyes the better I say. Worst case, pm me a build and I will take a look at it and give you feedback if you want.

But really, just play the game, and the rest will fall into place.

I agree it can be overwhelming. What has always worked for me is simplicity.

Don't worry about builds or IO's or min/maxing or any of those things at first. Just put together a character that sounds fun and see where it takes you. Stick with the most basic features of character building until you get comfortable with it.

Go at your own pace. Once you feel ready, then start another character and experiment with some of the more complicated features with that one.

Keep repeating this until you hit the level of complexity that works for you.

Now, just as an example: I've been playing since 2006 and I've NEVER used MIDS or a build program, I rarely use full IO sets and I've never gone out of my way to try and get them. I stick to the commonly available SO (single origin) enhancements and whatever IO's that fall into my lap randomly.

Is this the right way for everybody? Perhaps not. But it works well for me and the game has continued to be fun and entertaining for a bit over 5 years now. And that is the real point. It's a game, it's supposed to be fun.

Hey it's cool, I didn't mean to come as being mean to you MisterDi just having a bad day I apologize and sorry it was the other person that fixed my typing, so ill go back and give thanks to her, as for you and everyone else I just want to say tyvm for the help and advice and again sorry I just had a bad day

Too Blondeshell, tyvm for fixing my typing and redoing it all correctly

If you are someone with cognitive difficulties, the meta-game of searching all the possible options to slot all possible powers can seem daunting. My recommendations are:

1. Start very simple. The game does not harshly penalize people who just slot their build with SOs and plays them. In fact, most people probably do exactly that and even I often do it with my alts as I level them: I don't get serious about invention slotting until I reach or approach level 50.

2. Learn one trick at a time. The goal for improving a build beyond just slotting SOs is to make it more fun. So ask yourself, while you're leveling this build, what is the one thing that would make it more fun, beyond just "make it indestructible and mow down enemies like a crazed lawnmower." Do you spend time waiting for attacks to recharge a lot? Do you run out of endurance often? Do you die too often?

Pick something you wish you could improve, and then look for ways to improve that one thing. Look for ways to slot individual powers to help with this one thing. Can you slot a little more recharge into the powers so they are available quicker? Can you slot a little more endurance reduction so they don't burn up so much endurance?

Is there a simple enhancement that can help here? There are procs in the invention system - single enhancements that do a special thing like deliver bonus damage, add more endurance recovery, or cause you to recharge your powers a little faster - that don't require using them in combination with lots of other enhancements to get the full effect. Learn which ones those are, and try slotting them and see if they help. Paragonwiki is your friend here. They have an entire section devoted to describing all the various inventions in an organized fashion.

3. Mids and Titan Sentinel. Some people will recommend using Mids. Some won't. I think Mids might be confusing to you alone, because it will present too many options out of context. But I will suggest using Mids combined with Titan Sentinel. Mids will let you mess with the numbers of your build, but what do those numbers mean? Titan Sentinel can help: it can export your build from the actual game into Mids. And that means you can take the builds of your actual characters that you know, and then you can see what Mids says about them. So you might have no idea whether 3.3 endurance recovery per second is good or bad. But if you import a build you already play now and Mids says that build has 2.5 endurance recovery per second, well now you know that 3.3 would be a lot more than something you already play. If that build never has endurance problems, more would not be all that helpful. If its always running out, then this change would be an improvement.

Being able to compare something you have direct experience with, against a hypothetical build that you whip up in a builder like Mids, can be a useful reference point to see what the numbers mean, and what changing those numbers might mean.


Beyond that, it will just take time.

I'm the one who had that brute, and yeah, he was streetsweeping Incarnate foes in Dark Astoria at level 46 on SOs.

Also,for the record, Tanks do less damage than brutes or scrappers, but not enough to make them really take all day to defeat someone. My Ice Armor/Titan Weapon Tanker puts out a lot of damage and is rarely in any danger.

For something easier to start with, I would recommend a Tanker or Brute with Invulnerability or Willpower, as they are relatively low-maintenance powersets with solid survivability. I love my Corruptor as well, but they tend to have a fairly narrow margin between "I'm in no real danger" and "IMGONNADIE!!!!!!"

Pretty much what Arcana said.

You're still fairly new to the game. Don't expect to become an expert at everything overnight. Or even in a few weeks or months. There's LOTS of stuff in this game. I've been playing four years and there's still stuff I'm "iffy" on, as well as stuff I just flat-out don't know.

The best way to learn isn't always by having someone tell you "the *right* way" or even "the *best* way". It's for you to try it on your own, fall on your face a couple times while coming to figure out what certain powers do. THEN tweaking things and watching how much of a difference it makes.

My original build for my main toon was squishy as all hell. Mostly because I didn't understand the mechanics very well yet. My current build is a couple orders of magnitude tougher, sure. But I've also got a MUCH firmer grasp on his capabilities now. I have a friend who plays intermittently and has been around at least as long as I have. In their words, I'm roughly 10x the tank I used to be.

And that experience rolls over into other tanks, brutes and scrappers as well, even ones still sporting TOs and DOs. I leveled up another tank almost identical to my primary and the experience was MUCH easier the second time around. It also resulted in a MUCH more well-rounded tank as well.

Instead of taking up all your time learning how to min-max the game right off the bat, PLAY the game instead. This way you gain a much broader, deeper understanding of what baseline performance is, and why those min-maxing tweaks are so effective.

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