Author Topic: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh  (Read 8679 times)

Xev

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AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« on: August 07, 2013, 04:12:20 PM »
AT's often get a bad rap so I wanna mention what AT's have done for me.

By using AT's when first learning the game I was able to easily pick out a toon with a powerset that resembles one of my favorite CoH toons, give him a name, and a look.

With all the time I saved from not having to learn the FF system and guess what I think would work best in a game I never played... I learned things like which currencies are important to new players (Q - Zen - G), how to use the Q Exchange, Auction Exchange, how to line up my cones, how mob ai works, how hard mobs hit and how hard I hit them, which travel powers I like best, how I can interact with the geography, how to play with the character creator/hud/game setup options and etc. And, I still made toons that were a credit to the teams they join.

By using AT's I've become familiar with SS's and Talents and Specializations and Powers and Devices and have gathered enough info to get an idea of which ones fit my playstyle.

If you choose an AT you play well and get it to 40 and gear it, if nothing else, he will be a farming toon for you that can net you, daily, at the very very least an easy 2k of Q anytime you want to run 3 (you should rarely fail) alerts.


I'm of course looking to forward experimenting with FF's but I have fun playing my AT's and they have been really useful to me.



« Last Edit: August 07, 2013, 04:19:36 PM by Xev »
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Brou

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2013, 04:28:47 PM »
ATs make most power decisions for you, and that's good for new players. At any moment, a subscriber can convert that AT into a freeform. Nothing wrong with remaining an AT, of course.

EDIT: my brain short circuited and I said Freeform instead of AT up there.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2013, 10:06:24 PM by Brou »
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2013, 06:36:43 PM »
AT's make *all* the decisions for you without you having to think about much else but what theme you like. This is good for new & especially new casual players.

You can change from FF to AT, or, AT to FF one time only.

Just clarifying the clarifications.

In hindsight I wish I woulda stuck to AT's as the subject because that was the main intention but I'll have to add that if you start out playing Silver AT's, which is free and allows you to enjoy all the content in the game, this also allows you a trial period to decide if you even enjoy the game without spending a penny. There are bound to be people who jump into CO and find something gamekilling about it that makes them not want to play beyond giving the game a chance by checking it out.

Also, if you like the game and a paltry $10-$15 a month is a paltry $10-$15 a month, to you, - get a sub! No-brainer. Unless you are just way way into farming (Q) and still not ending up with as good as benefits as a subscriber has for your reward.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2013, 08:32:30 PM »
Also, if you like the game and a paltry $10-$15 a month is a paltry $10-$15 a month, to you, - get a sub! No-brainer. Unless you are just way way into farming (Q) and still not ending up with as good as benefits as a subscriber has for your reward.

I subscribe, and for the life of me I could never understand why CO does this.  If you put in the time farming Q or spend the money to get the Silver FF why are you not getting all the bennies that go with a FF? (yes the obvious answer is to coax people into the sub...but still...)
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Atlantea

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #4 on: August 07, 2013, 09:19:13 PM »
Freeforms make most power decisions for you...

Don't you mean Silver ATs make most power decisions? Cause damn sure freeforms DON'T.

Brou

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2013, 10:07:08 PM »
Don't you mean Silver ATs make most power decisions? Cause damn sure freeforms DON'T.

Fixed it. Should not have posted before coffee.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2013, 10:11:26 PM »
I subscribe, and for the life of me I could never understand why CO does this.  If you put in the time farming Q or spend the money to get the Silver FF why are you not getting all the bennies that go with a FF? (yes the obvious answer is to coax people into the sub...but still...)

As a Silver player who has always had a sub in whatever game he played until now, I can't complain about 1 single restriction they have in the game for Silver players.  I get your point and you're right, it's to coax people to sub - good for them! I think they are extremely fair with Silver (not entirely Free, Silvers buy Zen) accounts and still give enough incentive to all players to have a sub.

To farm up that Q like I do - you have to play the game a lot over time. You have to like the game a lot to play the game a lot, so, in exchange for their nice Silver program, CO gets regular players who would not otherwise be there because they are too broke or cheap to buy a sub, but, who help fill up the servers and who like the game, for the Gold players to play with.

When they have bennies that entice Silvers like me then at least some of us are gonna sub eventually, too. At this point in MMO history this is all a decent trade imo.

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2013, 10:29:39 PM »
Fixed it. Should not have posted before coffee.

If you didn't you would have helped ruin my useful posts @ fully awake vs. yours at half awake ratio which is prolly 1:1

edit: I'm probly not saying this right but you get what I mean!

There goes my ratio  : /

hehe

« Last Edit: August 07, 2013, 10:40:41 PM by Xev »
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2013, 10:57:51 PM »
Don't you mean Silver ATs make most power decisions? Cause damn sure freeforms DON'T.

I only had one FF, during the brief two months that I carried a sub. I thought there were recommendations, though, at least when you picked powers. I only got him to level 15 before converting him to a (Zen-purchased) AT and a silver character slot, so feel free to disregard. :)
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2013, 11:04:23 PM »
see, that's a mentality difference. CO and many other games make their players sticky by "gently encouraging" them to pay up to unlock content. CoH went a different and largely uncharted route of cranking out more new content, and then making half of it for-pay and half of it F2P. Obviously one is more developer intensive than the other.

and yet we know that CoH turned a profit with its model. so I'm nclined to say it sys less about the respective values of the methodologies, and more about publisher laziness and greed
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2013, 12:00:27 AM »
I helped to derail my own OP hehe.. It all started when I didn't simply title the post "AT's"

I have to refer to the OP and start over at this point. It's all about how useful (I think) AT's can be in a team and to the player and how I don't think they are a waste of time in the right situation.

There's a lot of discussion on the negative side regarding AT's and the OP is a rebuttal based mostly on my experiences and situation, with some personal opinion sprinkled in of course.

A percentage of folks reading here play AT's or are thinking to try them and I'm giving them a positive spin on AT's for a change with some details based on my experience.

AT's, be recognized!  : ) For all the OP reasons. You're a completely viable and useful part of the game to some, and never a waste of time to those who enjoy playing you.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2013, 08:46:46 PM »
I find ATs incredibly poor in comparison to Free forms, in particularly in terms of survivability. The whole point of Champions, the main crux of it's initial marketing was freedom of choice in character abilities.

I downloaded the game today and converted a few alts to ATs and I just found it incredibly frustrating how poor the builds are in comparison to my freeform builds. So I've uninstalled the game.

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2013, 09:02:10 PM »

I downloaded the game today and converted a few alts to ATs and I just found it incredibly frustrating how poor the builds are in comparison to my freeform builds. 


So someone actually *would* do something like this. Interesting.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #13 on: August 09, 2013, 09:28:03 PM »
My biggest problem with the Archtypes is so many of them are locked behind a Pay Wall. I really want to try out the Specialist and Invincible, but my budget doesn't really call for the funds to unlock those two ATs. I can understand putting some Archtypes behind a Pay Wall, but considering you unlock them all if you Subscribe - and get access to Freeform - I don't see why they can drop a few more down and whet the appetite a bit more.

Not that I really am complaining about the ATs we have available, but another Tank option, a non-Blade Melee option, and another Hybrid would be welcome.
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Eoraptor

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2013, 09:31:22 PM »
Not that I really am complaining about the ATs we have available, but another Tank option, a non-Blade Melee option, and another Hybrid would be welcome.
That would really add to the enjoyment on the free side. As much as CoX put almost everything out there for free RE: character types, CO seems to put almost everything behind the wall, and it's hard to get a flavour of the game.
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Xev

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #15 on: August 09, 2013, 09:52:36 PM »
My opinion of AT's overall is that they are a *great* way to get introduced to the game and they are completely competent Q farmers.

Anything you get out of them beyond that is a bonus. imo.




Also, some people will try CO and instantly be turned off by graphics/game mechanics/avatar movement-travel powers/avatar appearance/Zone chat/the HUD/the character creator/the different currencies/how tanks-melee-support-healing-control-etc function/that it's not CoH/etc and so on. Stuff that doesn't require a FF especially when you are new to the game and haven't a clue how to play it.  So, why pay 16 bucks for that experience even if you are lighting your cigars with $100 bills.

Luckily I'm pretty easy to please these days. I like to improve my toons' uberness but I play extremely casually so AT's still suit me just fine after like 5 or 6 months or so of playing. I'm so close to getting my first FF that it's an experience I'm definitely looking forward to. Gonna get the Penthouse soon too! Next Z store sale.. should be able to get both.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #16 on: August 09, 2013, 09:58:31 PM »
That would really add to the enjoyment on the free side. As much as CoX put almost everything out there for free RE: character types, CO seems to put almost everything behind the wall, and it's hard to get a flavour of the game.

Basically this. I had to stretch concepts to get a viable character in CO. It lends itself to creativity (Especially with the multitude of Travel Power options), but the lack of AT selection just really hinders creation design. About the only AT I don't feel has that issue is the Behemoth, as it's an open ended power set that just hits stuff.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #17 on: August 09, 2013, 10:09:45 PM »
AT's make *all* the decisions for you without you having to think about much else but what theme you like. This is good for new & especially new casual players.

Not quite all, so you can still customize your character to a tiny extent.  You can choose from two alternate powers at levels 11 and 35, you can pick what powers to add Advantage points to, you can choose your Talents, you can choose your Specializations (though you can't choose your first specialization tree, you can choose what abilities to put points into in that tree, and you can choose your second and third trees freely), and, of course, you can choose your Travel powers.

It's nowhere near the amount of customization as a Freeform, of course, but you do have some options.

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #18 on: August 09, 2013, 10:43:20 PM »
Not quite all, so you can still customize your character to a tiny extent.  You can choose from two alternate powers at levels 11 and 35, you can pick what powers to add Advantage points to, you can choose your Talents, you can choose your Specializations (though you can't choose your first specialization tree, you can choose what abilities to put points into in that tree, and you can choose your second and third trees freely), and, of course, you can choose your Travel powers.

It's nowhere near the amount of customization as a Freeform, of course, but you do have some options.

Yeah you are right of course. One can probably screw up their AT pretty good if they try and the options that *are* available, do add some spice to AT's. It's not a complete no-brainer.

For example, on the sometimes not so insignificant power choice: I had a Friends vet in-game shunning me for taking Fire Snake with Senge and I kept telling him "Look, whenever I get killed it's generally not due to 1 mob, so why choose a single target hold over some significant added aoe dps?"

The other options like Talent and Specialization choice will customize gameplay too.

Good point. 

I enjoy having these options. They feel (I haven't made my first FF yet..) like a good way to get an introduction to some concepts that are important for FF's to master in order for them to make a toon that more fits their playstyle, too.

Edit...
Oh yeah, and, they are relatively ea$y to change, too, after playing for awhile and deciding you want to try a different approach.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2013, 10:49:47 PM by Xev »
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Xev

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #19 on: August 09, 2013, 10:58:26 PM »
Basically this. I had to stretch concepts to get a viable character in CO. It lends itself to creativity (Especially with the multitude of Travel Power options), but the lack of AT selection just really hinders creation design. About the only AT I don't feel has that issue is the Behemoth, as it's an open ended power set that just hits stuff.

I get this. It's not me, but I get it!  : ) And I think a lot of people would substitute "Behemoth" for another AT as well as agreeing with you. Unleashed, to me for example, has the least fat of any AT I've tried. Everything in it is good and useful for how I play.

Kudos for giving the Travel Powers a shout out. I'm never gonna dis CoH here or anywhere but Athletics was one of my first loves regarding CO due to that I lub Combat Jumping and Athletics is what I wish Combat Jumping was. I spent a significant (trendsetting...) amount of time leaping my way onto interesting geography like statue-boob (sorry, crassness!, I'm a guy... : /) to sit on when I first experienced the joy that is Athletics. If you have a toon that looks good with the moves that is a major added bonus..

Hey, you play your way, I'll play mine! hehe
« Last Edit: August 09, 2013, 11:04:41 PM by Xev »
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #20 on: August 09, 2013, 11:01:47 PM »
I am constantly mesmerized by the Retractable Wings.

Also, funny you mention the Unleashed, because that's ultimately the AT I ended up going with for my "main".
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #21 on: August 09, 2013, 11:26:31 PM »
I like the Unleashed SS's, it's power choices, it's specializations, it's playstyle, and that it just rips things up, has tons of energy with the right choices and that I steal agro from 7..8..9/10 players in the game that I run into and can take the punishment.

The only thing Lee doesn't have over a FF that I would want at this point, besides color customization that he wouldn't get a lot out of anyway due to the default colors his powers emit fit him perfectly, is the extra power choices and I dunno what I would pick even (can I get a res??) - I mean, as a FF they're free, so why not, huh..?
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DBadger

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #22 on: August 10, 2013, 07:37:15 AM »
So someone actually *would* do something like this. Interesting.

I don't understand what you mean by this comment....

All of my characters were gold, I have 6 L40s and a few 20s/30s, so it was a case of delete some alts and start from scratch or convert some alts to silver in order to be able to even log in as a silver character.

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #23 on: August 10, 2013, 10:29:24 AM »
I tried an AT or two and I just couldn't do it.  It's why I had to give up on the game - I wasn't playing it enough to maintain a subscription, and for me it's rather unplayable without one.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #24 on: August 10, 2013, 12:17:49 PM »
Finding myself sick of my supposed 'tank' in the form of a Glacier AT, I finally deleted him and rerolled a new character.  Interestingly, I came across this Champions Online Promotional Bundle, which opens up some costume options and unlocks The Devastator AT.  I really recommend anyone who's a silver player to get it - buying ATs is expensive, so getting one for free is a real bonus.

The Devastator is a lot like The Behemoth, except he's placed in the Melee Damage role, and has his super-stats switched around.  He also has all of the Behemoth's Might powers replaced with Heavy Weapon attacks, and has Unstoppable instead of Defiant for a slotted passive.

Where the Devastator shines is that he's far, far more versatile than the Behemoth.  The power choices you get just make more sense overall - for instance, instead of being stuck with Roomsweeper for a knock-inducer/Enrage-generator (knocking enemies around and then being forced to chase them is never fun), you have Cleave, which doesn't slap enemies around the room and generates stacks of Enrage on a Disoriented target.  Your knock-inducing attack, for proccing Enrage stacks, is Eruption, which is a knockup instead of a knockback, and as a result is much less likely to frustrate you and piss off your teammates.  Your basic Energy builder is a cylinder melee AoE, Cleave is a cone melee AoE combo, you get the choice between Skewer and Skullcrusher early, and you just have much better ability to deal with crowds early on than The Behemoth.  While, in the long run, you're going to have fewer defenses (understandable as you're in the melee role instead of the tank, and don't have Defiant and can't proc it by any means), The Devastator is no slouch - your lack of defensive powess is made up for by being able to kill things far faster.

Many of your attacks inflict Disorient, which is not just a snare that helps your tanking by reducing enemy damage, but also synergizes with another AT - The Mind.  A Devastator/Mind combo is incredible - with The Devastator placing Disorient on everything and tanking the hits, The Mind can easily proc Telepathic Reverberation by tapping enemies with Ego Sprites.  With The Mind causing Disorient with Ego Blast and Ego Sleep, The Devastator can leverage Cleave, Eruption, and Skullcrusher w/Advantage to their maximum potential.  The Mind can heal, and has Aura of Radiant Protection to improve your tankiness, shoring up your primary weakness.

I got a friend that wisely chose to play The Mind to join me on the game.  So far, we've been absolutely tearing up content.  This is easily the most powerful two-person Archetype-only team I've ever had the pleasure of being part of.  It makes me sad that the Tank ATs are so poorly-designed for their role - I should've tried out DPS ATs sooner.
« Last Edit: August 10, 2013, 12:23:22 PM by Kaiser Tarantula »

Xev

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #25 on: August 10, 2013, 04:43:59 PM »
I don't understand what you mean by this comment....

All of my characters were gold, I have 6 L40s and a few 20s/30s, so it was a case of delete some alts and start from scratch or convert some alts to silver in order to be able to even log in as a silver character.

In another topic, Brou brought up that people can convert from Silver to Gold or Gold to Silver and I pointed out that you can only do this once.

I just couldn't imagine that anyone would take their FF and turn it into an AT with no possibility of it ever being a FF again.

You've proven me wrong!

You couldn't possibly have been surprised that your FF's would be gimped after you neutered them. I would have thought. Too.

Proven wrong twice.

If it was me and I didn't want to/couldn't pay for a sub and I still wanted to play the game I'd just make another account and start leveling newbs and be thankful for what I got for Free while I was sucking their bandwidth and monetarily giving them nothing back.

You've got a whole other opinion. Interesting!

That's all..

Wow on the Devastator! Gotta check that out...



Devastator edit:

Wow!

It's free... It's good! This deserves it's own topic.

As you know from playing an Unleashed, cone energy builders are nice. Cones in general are nice and there are plenty of them.. Disorients are nice.. The SS's are right up my alley as something worthy to try. Con for hp's, Str for damage and KB protection and Rec is always good. Some ppl prefer End, and I can kinda see why with Xev, but I still like Rec.

I like everything about Devastator except the same problem I have with Behemoth - no heal. But that's personal taste, and me.

Due to them being tanks and having Con as their primary SS I would think Behemoths would be naturally tankier than Devastators when things get down to the nittiest gritty and my guess is that the Devastator (way?) out dps's the Behemoth. People are going to gravitate towards one or the other based on all kinds of personal tastes. Behemoths must be good. There's too many good players playing them for them not to be.. I'd think!

Xev is The Mind, so, yeah, I can see how that would be a good partner to have with some good room-clearing DPS/tankage : )



 



« Last Edit: August 10, 2013, 05:53:33 PM by Xev »
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #26 on: August 10, 2013, 06:19:52 PM »
I tried an AT or two and I just couldn't do it.  It's why I had to give up on the game - I wasn't playing it enough to maintain a subscription, and for me it's rather unplayable without one.

I get this btw.

We were talking last night and SARobb doesn't like'em either and neither do a lot of other people I'm sure.

AT's are obviously not for everyone (is anything, besides air/food/things like this?) but for some people, like me, they work just fine for what I currently want/expect out of my playtime and I'm just showcasing my reasons why for anyone that might find the info useful.

The negative side of AT's gets showcased plenty. This is my rebuttal/different view and obviously not shared by all and I totally respect and get that.

I totally advocate and want to get a sub someday, btw,. As soon as the dogs go to the vet, I hit the dental surgeon, we get the roof insulation installed, I get new clothes, the indoor plumbing gets installed, the mountain of landscaping work here is finished, the truck windshield gets fixed, etc, and so on. Gotta have priorities!

Thanks, CO, for letting me (mostly) leach in the meanwhile. And with toons that I use to rip up all the content in the game so far  : p


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Kaiser Tarantula

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #27 on: August 10, 2013, 07:12:10 PM »
Devastator edit:

Wow!

It's free... It's good! This deserves it's own topic.

As you know from playing an Unleashed, cone energy builders are nice. Cones in general are nice and there are plenty of them.. Disorients are nice.. The SS's are right up my alley as something worthy to try. Con for hp's, Str for damage and KB protection and Rec is always good. Some ppl prefer End, and I can kinda see why with Xev, but I still like Rec.

I like everything about Devastator except the same problem I have with Behemoth - no heal. But that's personal taste, and me.

Due to them being tanks and having Con as their primary SS I would think Behemoths would be naturally tankier than Devastators when things get down to the nittiest gritty and my guess is that the Devastator (way?) out dps's the Behemoth. People are going to gravitate towards one or the other based on all kinds of personal tastes. Behemoths must be good. There's too many good players playing them for them not to be.. I'd think!

Xev is The Mind, so, yeah, I can see how that would be a good partner to have with some good room-clearing DPS/tankage : )
When it comes to ATs, you can't have everything.  If I were building a freeform Heavy Weapons character, he'd definitely have a self-heal - Resurgence at the very least.  But honestly, with the sole exception of The Master (Gold AT, natch) and maybe The Invincible, none of the tank ATs in Champions have self-healing ability worth a damn.  It's something you have to live with if you intend to tank on an AT, and it's a big reason why AT tanks fail compared to freeforms.

The solution?  Either make a freeform to tank, or get out of the tank role.  The Devastator chooses the latter option.  Freed from the restrictions of "being a tank" he can put his tankiness to use as an off-tank or excessively-sturdy 'scrapper' character, akin to Brutes in COH.  Getting scrapperlocked as a Devastator is far less detrimental to you than less burly melee DPS characters, because you have the hit points and the general sturdiness to survive being a little reckless.  You also kick out a positively scary amount of damage (I broke 4 digit damage on this character for the first time at level 12, the earliest I've ever done this on any character), which makes holding aggro (when you need to hold aggro) a cinch.

Having a cylinder for an EB is a tremendous advantage, and it's one of the reasons why I prefer Devastator to Behemoth.  Your EB remains a viable weapon longer, and generates energy ridiculously quick if you're fighting multiple enemies.  One or two swings will fill you pretty much instantly.  Kinda limits its use when it comes to triggering Disorient, but that's what Arc of Ruin and Brimstone are for.

Speaking of, every power the Devastator gets has a purpose.  There's only one or two powers I'd consider 'redundant' or 'iffy'.  Cleave is a bit meh, but once you get Arc of Ruin it's a fairly reliable means of generating Enrage when facing multiple targets - hit them with a fully charged Arc, and then Cleave them three times.  Skullcrusher's a bit substandard, even with the Put Them Down advantage (you'd get more damage on average from a fully upgraded Skewer, and Skewer guarantees a stack of Enrage if you hit more than one target), but since Skullcrusher and Skewer are both part of the same power choice, you can safely skip Skullcrusher.  Vicious Descent and Earth Splitter are both good, but I'd give a slight edge to Earth Splitter - it lacks an after-use recharge time and with an advantage it provdes you with a Knockto and it doesn't require an advantage to provide a knockdown.  Besides, you already have a lunge in the form of Decimate.

This is the biggest thing that makes the Devastator so much more fun to play with in my eyes.  I don't have to choose between suffering with Knockback (Roomsweeper) and needing a crowd to generate Enrage (Thunderclap).  I don't have a bunch of powers that do roughly the same thing (Demolish and Uppercut/Haymaker).  I'm more able to deal with groups (my EB is AoE, my basic combo is AoE, hell every single attack I get after Decimate is AoE).  Best of all, I don't have any neat tricks that are sadly locked off because of the way my power choices are structured (the Uppercut/Haymaker combo is impossible on a Behemoth because both Uppercut and Haymaker are mutually exclusive).

And I'm not a tank.  People see the fist icon and they don't expect me to tank.  So I can leverage my tankiness without people expecting me to throw myself into tanking situations that are way over my head without support.  When that mob gets free and rushes the supports, I'm the one flying at it with Decimate and then slapping it twenty feet into the air with Eruption.  When a field needs cleared of trash, I can rush ahead and knock some heads, and clear the path a little quicker.  When the crowds of enemies get ugly and the DPS can't take them down fast enough, I can start throwing damage at the entire crowd at once until one or two split off to come pound me, and relieve some pressure on the tank.  And then, I'm just sturdy enough to tank the things I pulled off him until he can take over again.  And if you need a single tough enemy juggled for a little while, I got the knockup to do it without throwing it around the room and forcing the DPS to chase after it.

Sure, the Behemoth, strictly speaking, out-tanks me on the high-end.  But that's okay.  I don't have that Sword of Damocles hanging over my head in the form of that Shield icon by my name.  I don't have people asking, "ur a tank y rnt u tanking?" 'cuz I'm not a tank.  I'm a brute, happily scrapperlocked into small crowds of enemies with just enough durability to survive my own crazed recklessness.  It's a beautiful thing.

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #28 on: August 10, 2013, 07:38:55 PM »
In another topic, Brou brought up that people can convert from Silver to Gold or Gold to Silver and I pointed out that you can only do this once.

I just couldn't imagine that anyone would take their FF and turn it into an AT with no possibility of it ever being a FF again.

You've proven me wrong!

You couldn't possibly have been surprised that your FF's would be gimped after you neutered them. I would have thought. Too.

Proven wrong twice.

If it was me and I didn't want to/couldn't pay for a sub and I still wanted to play the game I'd just make another account and start leveling newbs and be thankful for what I got for Free while I was sucking their bandwidth and monetarily giving them nothing back.

You've got a whole other opinion. Interesting!

That's all..


Whats the point in having 7 free form L40s and 6 free form 20/30s that I can't even log in on unless I pay a sub? Plus I have a load of costume unlocks and other stuff on my account, so it would make sense to carry on using that account.

Xev

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #29 on: August 10, 2013, 08:35:58 PM »
Whats the point in having 7 free form L40s and 6 free form 20/30s that I can't even log in on unless I pay a sub? Plus I have a load of costume unlocks and other stuff on my account, so it would make sense to carry on using that account.

What's the point of a business letting you carry on with your account unhindered when you stop paying them?

Is my first reaction.

You are getting what you get, for free. More, you are sucking their bandwidth just by playing and giving them nothing back to pay for it. It wasn't so long ago that if you stopped paying your sub in an mmo you couldn't even touch your toons.

I get that changing from FF to AT sucks. I wouldn't even consider it. If for whatever reason I wasn't paying a sub but I still wanted to play and not ruin my FF's I would make a new account, get the costume pieces again, level up again, have fun doing it. If that didn't work out for me I'd prolly pay my sub or play something else.

I can't see myself choosing to permanently gimp my toons or complaining about what I get for free.

We're just different, that's all. I think it sucks that you are unhappy and wish you could get what you want even if I don't understand your expectations. I don't understand a lot of things so don't take it personally. I respect your game time (like we're burning right now), and gametime is funtime.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #30 on: August 10, 2013, 08:37:02 PM »
Thanks for pointing to the Promotion for the Free Viking Costume and Devastator AT!
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #31 on: August 10, 2013, 10:44:02 PM »
Ah, expectations:  In CoH if I stopped subbing I was at the point where I wouldn't have lost anything of particular importance to me.  And yet I continued to sub even if I wasn't necessarily playing that much.  But in ChO I can never get to a point where I don't lose anything of importance if I stop subbing, and indeed I don't even get as much as I'd like while subbed (so few character slots).  So I don't sub and have to stop playing altogether.  I'm not sure if any of that is weird. 
When you insult someone by calling them a "pig" or a "dog" you aren't maligning pigs and dogs everywhere.  The same is true of any term used as an insult.

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #32 on: August 11, 2013, 12:31:59 AM »
Yeah I never considered dropping my CoH sub. Different times, different game. Even *with* a sub I was spending money in the market (forget the name atm.. Paragon Market..?) just due to they did it that well.

When I started playing CoH again ~ the time Freedom came out, it was the first mmo that I'd played since some years. Was coming off the only non-minor (moving, whatever) break I'd taken since they started graphical mmo's, far as that goes. When CoH shut down I found out that I didn't have any go-to game anymore. Either I didn't have enough of the client and enough bandwidth to get the rest of it (wireless, 5gb per month limit, best we have in this area) or the game was just old (hi EQ) or I was disgusted with the company (hi Guildwars). Man I have a TON of vet rewards in EQ too.. And, I found that I was hooked on playing online again. So this was a problem.

First thing I did was come here and hit the Other Games forum and start chatting people up about my 'discovery' of abandonware and that led to playing some cool old games again but the void was still there.

Then along came CO. (Hey it had it's own forum here, it couldn't be *all* bad). The client was smaller than most. The theme is the one that got me back into gaming and with AT's *I* personally get all the entertainment I'm looking for as a casual player who knows his AT's will never be the leetest toons on the server(s) but can still chug through all the content in a fun way, and I get all the content. Do I want more? Well, sure. One thing that is probably in my favor - I don't know by experience what I'm missing. Also, I'm just not spending any money for any entertainment until other things get paid for, no exceptions. So it was a love it or leave it thing for me to play CO as a silver and so far I'm still luvin' it, with my AT's.

So my deal here is, to take my positive experience and try and pass it on to someone else that might benefit even half as much as I have.

We all have our own story and.. expectations  : )
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #33 on: August 11, 2013, 06:43:14 AM »

Super Firebug

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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #34 on: August 11, 2013, 01:32:07 PM »
Kudos for giving the Travel Powers a shout out. I'm never gonna dis CoH here or anywhere but Athletics was one of my first loves regarding CO due to that I lub Combat Jumping and Athletics is what I wish Combat Jumping was.

My impression is that Acrobatics and Athletics are, functionally, identical, and only really differ in the fact that one runs with the arms streaming back. And both perform VERY much like CoH's Ninja Run.

Quote
I spent a significant (trendsetting...) amount of time leaping my way onto interesting geography like statue-boob (sorry, crassness!, I'm a guy... : /) to sit on when I first experienced the joy that is Athletics.

I read that one of the first things that players did, when they got their travel powers at level 14, was to go to the top of the Atlas statue (which, I think, is why they decided to put a badge up there). So, for a while, I tried to start a Galaxy City equivalent: standing in Galaxy Girl's cleavage. Hey, we celebrate in our own ways.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #35 on: August 11, 2013, 01:51:45 PM »
I've gotta admit my memory is fading on the subject but one first impression I remember having with athletics and CO geography was that I could jump and land and sit in more/tighter areas. With rank 2 I get the run speed boost as well as it feels like I can jump higher than I did with a properly slotted CJ, as well as have more control with my jumps than I had with CJ. It just seems like CJ+ to me and I've never had rank 3 even.

When CoH comes back online, will have to do a comparison for sure. Maybe I'm all wet. I'm a hoping bast in both games. I saw people with Ninja Run and I'm pretty sure I tried it out once on Test - along with every other free thing I could get my mouse on when I was there, which wasn't often.. but that's about it.

After an Alert, if you can jump on top of a light post, and I'm talking those single lamp ones with the pointy tip, and sit, before the Exit Alert (whateveh it says..I just auto-click,,) button comes up. See now, to me that's almost as uber as tanking Warlord.

*shrug*

What can I say  : ) I don't get it either.

Btw the animations in Acrobatics just kill it for me.. I always go Athletics. It feels like the difference of, say, pink and blue and I take blue. I kinda wasn't thrilled with hunched over Ninja Run either.
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Re: AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh
« Reply #36 on: August 13, 2013, 11:43:03 PM »
Hey Badger I wasn't ignoring you I just didn't catch your reply (somehow..) until I came back (to see I'm a hoping not a hopping bast..) to revisit this thing with the jumping.

You're not saying anything new and I don't have anything new to say, either. I'm thinking hard and I dunno what else to say at this point.

I've exhausted every reason I can think of to explain why I created the OP. Hopefully it was useful for someone that might benefit as I have, and continue to. It probably was not. Oh well.
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