Friday, September 5, 2008

The Archetypes I Love...The Archetypes I Don't

Brutes. Love 'em. The play can be a bit too straight-forward (read, simplistic), but building and maintaining Fury is a great mini-game and destroying things with that level of damage can be a real stress-reliever.

Tankers. I don't. Yeah, I rerolled Sepia Tone because I like his concept and costume so much, but I'll wait until Scrappers get Super Strength and then reroll him. Tanks are boring to solo, and on teams are really just a bag of Hit Points. For me, merely surviving isn't enough. And I needs to solo, and I needs to do it at a reasonable pace and with at least some chance of being defeated.

Dominators. Love 'em. One reservation: their 40+ game is unnecessarily harsh, thanks to the PToDs making their Primary (which they depend upon for survival) useless. Other than that, tie-and-whip is my favorite play style of all. And another Dom buff is coming! More Damage, please. ;) And please do something about those PToDs. :(

Controllers. I don't. One reservation here as well: their APPs are something to behold. I espeically want to try out the Earth APP some day. But that means getting a Controller to 40. *sigh* I'm a direct damage fan, and not a fan of support, so Controllers are just about custom made for me to not like.

Blasters. Jury's still out. They define direct damage (and as I said I'm a direct damage fan) but are very squishy. Also, you get attacks...and more attacks. So play can be a bit one-dimentional. Fun sets, tons of damage, killer APPs, but something happens where I just stop playing them around level 25-26. Something about them just doesn't sit right with me.

Defenders. I don't. My latest attempt at a Defender, Olden Archer, TA/A has hit a brick wall at level 20. He hasn't passed the giggle test, and feels like work getting through missions. Fun toys, but without the damage to back it up, the direct damage aspect just doesn't feel right. Tankers do more damage, and that's pretty pathetic. I don't see how you can increase Defender damage without nerfing their buffs/debuffs, though. And the Inherent is useless solo, and of questionable utility on teams.

Stalkers. Love 'em. They're like Scrappers, but more challenging and nuanced. Also, they get the fantastic Ninjitsu secondary. I'm a big fan of Stealth+Alpha strike, and the changes Castle made to them (giving them crits outside of Hide, an enemy ToHit debuff/chance to Fear, more Health and higher base damage) are nothing short of brilliant. Proves why, IMHO, Castle is the best powers guy in the biz (or at the very least heads up the best powers team).

Masterminds. Jury's still out. My Bots/FF MM put me off them for a long time. My Necro/Dark is beginning to make me rethink them. I definitely don't like Bots or Mercs (Mercs are really just nerfed Bots lol). I look forward to rolling Thugs/Pain if my Necro doesn't let me down. Maybe Ninjas/Pain.

Corruptors. Jury's still out, but it isn't looking good. Small wonder too, because they are really just Defenders in reverse, but with an actual Inherent (a nicely Villainous one, no less!) Rad/Rad was fun for a while, but is too team dependant and I never think of playing him when I fire the game up. Always a bad sign. Will Elec/Storm be the one that wins me over?

Khelds. I don't. I can see where the devs were going with the idea, but the implementation is just awful. They definitely need some love, and when they get it, I'll take a second look. Right now, it's a "no".

VEATs. Love 'em. They're everyting Khelds aren't, most importantly fun. The only one I haven't tried yet is the Crab, but the Bane (my fave by far!), Night Widow and Fortunata all are winners. Big, fun, powerful winners! I fully expect to love the Crab as well.

Scrappers. Love 'em. The perfect balance of damage output and survivability. They alone among the Hero Archetypes feel like true Superheroes to me. Welcomed on teams, solo like champs, what's not to love? Stalkers are overshadowing them a bit for me these days, but I'll always have at least one Scrapper in process from now until the day I leave the game. Fiery/Fiery is the most fun I've had blueside since Daemodand himself.

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