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Dual Pistols comes up fairly often in this thread.

1. Looking back, considering everything, which was your favorite archetype in the game?

Probably Brutes, since I played those the most often. Once you were able to create Brutes in Praetoria and bring them blue side (and then later, just create them in blue side without side-switching), I ended up making quite a bit. It was ideal for me because they were good in damage and able to survive while dealing it. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy corruptors a lot as well...but Brutes get the edge!

2. In possible contrast, when it comes to your favorite character, what kind was it? List AT and the two main sets.

My favorite character was a brute, Kinetic Melee/Willpower. Not the highest in damage, but I specced it the hell out and was able to make it a toon capable of surviving quite a bit.

3. What AT did you evolve to enjoy over the years that you disliked initially?

Hmm...I played back before CoV came out. When CoV did eventually come out, I tried playing Corruptors and could never really get into them, at least, not on villain side. However, once you were able to make gold-side and bring them blue, and then later make red-side AT's on blue-side, I grew to like them. My beam rifle/time manip corruptor was a force to be reckoned with. I duo'ed the ITF with a friend of mine who was playing his specced out Dominator. That was fun.

1. Looking back, considering everything, which was your favorite archetype in the game?

I liked a few of the ATs, but my hands-down favourite would have to be Tankers. I hate being mezzed into oblivion and I was generally annoyed by character fragility in this game (sans jumping through IO hoops).

2. In possible contrast, when it comes to your favorite character, what kind was it? List AT and the two main sets.

My first favourite character was my FF/Rad Defender. But once it reached 50 it seemed kind of useless for anything more than bubbling lowbies in the Hollows - and later still there weren't many of those around any more.

My Dark/Dark Corruptor became my favourite up until near level 40. At that point he began to be too fragile for me to like. A while after the level cap was increased I went back and pushed him to 50, but I stopped being IC with him and wasn't enjoying myself very much.

At the end I'd say it was a toss-up between my WP/SS Tanker Captain Hamurabi (of the PPD) and my Elec/Elec Blaster Leapin' Liz. Though judging from the fact that Liz is the only character I made significant progress getting Incarnate abilities with it might be safe to say she was my favourite.

3. What AT did you evolve to enjoy over the years that you disliked initially?


None. The only AT I wholly disliked is the Controller, and I still dislike them. I could say that I disliked the way Stalkers worked initially but they finally changed enough for the better that I could enjoy playing them.

1. Looking back, considering everything, which was your favorite archetype in the game?
Tough to answer this question as worded... my favorite AT to play was always melee damage, so either Brute, Scrapper or Stalker depending on what fit the character best.

The AT in the game that I thought was THE BEST would be Controllers. There were so many different ways to play the one AT... damage-heavy, team multipliers, enemy lockdown... So versatile, yet always effective.

2. In possible contrast, when it comes to your favorite character, what kind was it? List AT and the two main sets.
My favorite character is NOT my favorite power set combination. In fact, I've grown to hate those sets over the years as new sets were released. Chad Gulzow-Man is a Katana/SR Scrapper, but I hate the way defense is handled in the game. If he were being rolled fresh right now, I'd make him a Street Justice/Willpower Scrapper instead.

3. What AT did you evolve to enjoy over the years that you disliked initially?
Initially I only played melee damage. I tried making different ATs, but could never really get into them. Of course, when I made my first Controller, I had no real concept of how to build a character and I believe I chose Mind/Emp, and it was boring and ineffective.

Then, when I was in my late 20s on Chad Gulzow-Man, I teamed with my first Kinetics user and got my first taste of Speed Boost. I was like, "What is this magic power that makes everything awesome all the time!?!" I rolled a Grav/Kin Controller shortly thereafter and learned that it had a lot more awesome tools in its toolkit than just SB. I still hold that Grav/Kin is one of the best possible team builds in the game.

I still can't play Tankers, Defenders or Blasters (though I did find good synergy in a Rad/Mind Blaster that made it into the mid 30s--he felt a lot like a Controller). Or Peacebringers, for that matter. And even now, in the end, I've never tried a Warshade or Arachnos Soldier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

The questions were designed to make you think and make choices, considering most of us still lingering to the forums have been around quite awhile.

The grav/kin idea intrigues me, mostly because anytime you have kin I think about self buffs and pet buffs. I would think about how SB and Fulcrum would affect the Singularity before deciding to create a character.

I always thought of Tankers as an offshoot of the role controllers/dominators can take - that is, always looking around and managing mobs for a team, remembering who I hit last and who I taunted last, and how long ago that was in order to refresh that control. Think of Tankers that way if you are a fan of control sets and you might find them more appealing.

Even though I stated Defenders were probably my favorite AT in the game, I must admit that I too disliked how low their damage was, and let's not get started on Defender Archery. The buffs that they received that disappeared when the team got larger never sat right with me. I think that giving them the same damage as corruptors without Scourge wouldn't have been so bad.

'Ko, I feel bad that we didn't get to issue 24 with all that Blaster goodness.

1.

Previously, I thought that would have been easy - blaster. But I did develop a soft spot for scrappers and stalkers in the end.

2.

My favourite character. That actually is a hard one. Whilst Soph has always been my "main", she was not always, admittedly, my favourite character. Sometimes I wish I could swap out her two sets for something else. In the end, I did something along those lines and created an "ascended" version of her - a psi/psi domi. Still wasn't entirely happy.

But anyway. Sophia is a blaster, elec/fire. Incarnate up to hybrid.

More recently, I had been trying a DP/martial blaster on the beta server - Serena. I fell in love. Its a shame she will never see the light of day on live.

3.

Easy. The melee ATs. Scrappers, stalkers, brutes. I still have not managed to get a tank past lvl 20. Now, I don't think I will. Also, the defender. After seeing a fellow Unionite completely shred Reichsman's defenses with a sonic/sonic, I wanted to give it a go. Squirtle - a sonic/water defender, was born.

My first scrapper that I recall was Tiger, a claws/regen. I just could not play her well. My latest scrapper was Lexi - a StJ/willpower lass. I really rather like her.

Stalkers - Arynxian-ji. Ninja. Godly. I was going to re-roll her as a DB/Nin, but never got round to it. Also, Two-Spirits. An evolution of Lexi into a magical (from natural) KM/Ene iirc beauty. She still hasn't left Praetoria.

Yeah that's why I described it that way, in case some find it more appealing.

1. Looking back, considering everything, which was your favorite archetype in the game?
Hard to say. I had absolute swarms of both tanks and controllers. I guess tanks. Feeling 'not squishy' was always nice.

2. In possible contrast, when it comes to your favorite character, what kind was it? List AT and the two main sets.
Ironblade is a broadsword/regen scrapper. I picked that combo when I started the game as I thought it would be decent in combat and keep me alive while learning the game. I was not disappointed and he became my main character.

3. What AT did you evolve to enjoy over the years that you disliked initially?
err.. none? I never really liked masterminds and still don't.

1. Looking back, considering everything, which was your favorite archetype in the game?

Controllers. Why? Because they had a huge grab bag of tricks, generally had enough offense to get the job done (albeit slowly at first), and had the potential to be incredibly powerful at high levels.

2. In possible contrast, when it comes to your favorite character, what kind was it? List AT and the two main sets.

Illusion/Radiation Controller. Why? Because it had a great toolkit. Damage at lvl 1 that got better as you hit certain levels, both strategic and chaotic crowd control, invulnerable pocket tanks, pocket blaster pet, the best invisibility option a non stalker can get, great buffs and debuffs that helped solo and group play and the ability to heal myself and others. It was the perfect combo for me.

3. What AT did you evolve to enjoy over the years that you disliked initially?

Tankers. Why? Between some buffs over the years and inventions I realized tankers could be incredibly sturdy while having a decent kill speed, and there was something fun about jumping into huge swathes of mobs and essentially ignoring their best efforts to kill me. The initial turn offs were toggle drains on endurance, low damage and, after the GDN, the sturdiness was lacking.

1. Looking back, considering everything, which was your favorite archetype in the game?


Bruuuuutes.

2. In possible contrast, when it comes to your favorite character, what kind was it? List AT and the two main sets.


Two of my big 14 (characters who reached 50 or had 100+ hours of play) broke 1000 hours:

Dragos Bahtiam - Fire/Ice Blaster - 1010 hours (first ever character)
Deamus the Fallen - Dark Melee/Energy Aura Brute - 1108 hours (first serious Villain)

If the game had gone longer my TW/Elec would've galloped up the time played as well.

3. What AT did you evolve to enjoy over the years that you disliked initially?


Hmm. This one's hard to qualify, but I guess my Grav/Psi Dominator would probably be the best fit. He IS third in total time played (319 hours).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shubbie Im very good at taking a problem and making it worse.

1 Tanker

2 JOE SMILEY assault rifle/devices blaster

3 Defender

1. Looking back, considering everything, which was your favorite archetype in the game?


For many years it was scrappers, and I certainly have more level 50 scrappers than any other AT by a wide margin. But over the last two years I've built quite a few brutes, and the ability to tank effectively (and taunt), the extra toughness beyond scrapper toughness, and the raw damage which is still very comparable to scrappers won me over. My favorite AT at this point in the game is a brute.

2. In possible contrast, when it comes to your favorite character, what kind was it? List AT and the two main sets.


Probably this is still Sparks Fly, who is Electric Melee / Shield Defense / Fire Scrapper. Just far too much raw AoE damage, and tanks nearly as well as a brute. But I've been extremely fond of my Titan Weapons brutes (and scrapper) recently as well, and of those, Megami Hime, Titan Weapons / Willpower, is far and away the most fun to play.

3. What AT did you evolve to enjoy over the years that you disliked initially?


I'll tell you, I played everything to 50 and never really warmed up to Master Minds, and also for some reason even with some very powerful Trollers and Dominators, I never really fell in love with either AT. And I can say that I fell out of love with Tankers -- my first 50 was a fire/axe tanker, and for a while Sailor Shinobu, an invul/energy melee tanker, was one of my favorite characters. But eventually most of my scrappers and all of my brutes could tank as well as any tanker outside of a few specific instances, and do a lot more damage. So I kind of fell out of love with Tankers. And I REALLY fell out of love with Peacebringers, and to a certain extent with Blasters as well (I24 might have fixed that, who knows).

The two ATs that I really grew to love late in my playing career were Stalkers (after the last round of changes) and especially Corruptors. I played a ton of Defenders to 50, but just like Brutes over Scrappers, I grew to love Corruptors over my Defenders (and over blasters too). I still like Defenders, but Corruptors are just pretty darn awesome all the way around.

Yeah that seems to be a trend too - Stalkers benefited a lot with those changes.

Once i24 hit I had planned on completing my blaster fire/dev (I Got Chutzpah) and was going to work on my stalker (MA/Nin - I Do Kung Fu). Sadly my blaster is sitting at level 38 and my stalker lvl 2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayboH Yeah that seems to be a trend too - Stalkers benefited a lot with those changes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paladiamors I love you, I Burnt the Toast!

I'd like a few more years to consider my answers to the questions posed.

1. My first 50 (under issue 15) was a defender. My second was a controller. But my fave AT was the blaster. It took me a while to learn how to play a blaster without getting sent to the hospital all the time but doing high damage at range was highly satisfying.

2. My fave character was an energy blaster with mental manip and elec mastery, enough so that I made a second one on another server and also got that character to 50 and Incarnate powers (though only the first one got Tier 4 Alpha, Judgement, Interface, Lore, Destiny and Hybrid.) Mostly I've been playing my Water blaster (has only Alpha, Judgement and Interface atm) but Water blast/Ice Manip might supplant my current fave as a better blaster.

3. Lots of ATs that others loved I never got into. If CoH were to continue, part of my future plans included learning those archetypes: stalkers, tankers, masterminds. Yeah, I had a few lowbies of most ATs, tho never rerolled the deleted Stalker.

1) Favorite AT was definitely Controllers. As some have mentioned here, a bit of everything in one AT and a variety of power combos could make for a jack of all trades character really easily.

2) This was the toughest for me by far because I have a favorite in each AT and they are all pretty near and dear, but if I had to choose just one it'd be my Electric Melee/Invulnerability/Soul Brute, coincidentally my first character and first 50. The AoE, unstoppable Manchine. At first I went with Mu Mastery for concept and moar AoE, then after reading through the forums a good bit and playing the game more, I realized how poor the ST was and so switched to Soul and nevr looked back. I never finished IOing him out, but was pretty close and I was totally losing my mind over how beastly he would've been post-i24. He was the one toon I knew I could jump on and just rush through whatever....except Psi, but that's what my Dark Armor/Kinetic Melee/Energy Mastery Tank was for

3) At first it was Blasters, who I only forced my way to 50 on because of DP being pretty (and that was with a good bit of PL help from SGmates). A better understanding of IOs, aggro and a total disregard for debt gathering (aka faceplanting) made me appreciate the falling star AT. You may go down, but you are going to put a world of hurt on everything that met you. I was never someone who played the market or farmed for hours on end, so really getting a ton of IOs was out of my playstyle, but I learned to make do with the smattering of IOs I did have and grabbing what uniques would help my woes the most. Using those tactics made the 2nd run to 50 on a blaster (Water/Dark/Ice) much more fun and i24 had me looking at getting a Psi/Fire to 50 (he sits at 33ish). I wish I had more time to really get into Stalkers, Dominators, Masterminds and SoAs who I was only just getting into the real crunch of those ATs when the announcement kind of took the wind out of my playing sails. Cest le vie

1. Looking back, considering everything, which was your favorite archetype in the game?
Scrappers, hands down. The only DPS "class" in any MMORPG where you can Leroy Jenkins and get by with it.

2. In possible contrast, when it comes to your favorite character, what kind was it? List AT and the two main sets.
Tanker INV/SS. He could wade into almost anything and not be touched.
A tank in any other game is just a big bag of hit points - nothing special.

3. What AT did you evolve to enjoy over the years that you disliked initially?
Trollers. The first troller that I truely enjoyed was my Plant/Storm. Damage, Control, and pure chaos. Also made Fire/Kin, Fire/Rad, and Ice/NA. Each enjoyable in their own way , but nothing compares to the the plant/storm.

This is one of my favorite threads recently - very interesting to hear different takes on ATs and combos.

FrostPox: yeah, I've got a fire/fire dom I love also - my first permadom. I went back and respecced a few others into it after I figured out how easy it was to do. I created more doms due to how much I loved that fire/fire. The first dom I enjoyed was a plant/thorn though.

DarksideLeague: yeah, I suppose that being a controller or dominator makes a difference there too when it comes to those.

JohnRobey: As far as those 3 ATs go, yes, I grew to like them later on also. I did a video awhile back that shows some tricks you could do with certain Mastermind combos and builds.

SirHextor: Ooh, a dark tanker - I get the appeal, but I couldn't get myself to do it. I had a rough time with my stone/dark brute and stone has a lot of mitigation. I did get it to a point where I had zero end problems while running all toggles except for the stealth at least.

Hercules: Yeah, before ED, Inv/SS tankers were even more insane - I have pics of us aggroing entire zones back then. Also, I can't imagine how rough the end use was on that plant/storm while leveling. I could see massive damage potential there though once that's ironed out.