Orleans Then and Now

A little slideshow of Orleans' various incarnations

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Malacoda apparent...

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Ah, the long road...

Well, my little Claws/SR Scrapper is kicking on Triumph and so far so good. He's not leveling that fast, since most missions with groups are spent chatting and making bad jokes. It's remarkable that people are so patient compared to Freedom. Folks will sit around outside missions chewing the fat waiting for someone to level or get another character. Wow.

Anyway, Windup Hero's up to Level 12 now and I'm working Perez Park for salvage to build my L15 IO's. According to the word on the street, once you slot in L15 IO's you're set until you get to Level 22 and can slot L25 IOs. Since the IOs don't degrade over time, the L15's are better than DOs for the duration. Problem is there just aren't pre-made IOs made on the market right now in that level range. So... That means taking down Hellions to get that Arcane salvage to make the recipes.

At Level 12, his defense boosts are starting to get more appreciable. This means better survivability and enhanced success rates taking on larger spawns. Lack of any healing/resistance abilities is somewhat of a pain, and I can see how the pool power Aid Self is a popular pick for /SR Scrappers.

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Scrapper Summary for Rob

Ideas/Feedback for Rob's Scrapper:

Firstly, character concept is the big driver here. Pick something you like and work the powersets around it. That being said, I'll try to give you my perspective on the Scrapper Primaries/Secondaries to give you a little more info to work with.

PRIMARIES:
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Broad Sword - One of the heaviest hitters of the Scrapper primaries. Pretty much whipping around a big hunk of steel that packs a whollop. Slow-ish recharge on attacks, but high damage puts the DPS (damage per second) almost exactly the same as the Katana primary. However, at later levels with recharge IOs and set bonuses, the set deals out some sick damage. It has the Parry attack which is a stackable defense buff for melee, a staple for any Broadsword attack chain. It deals primarily smashing/lethal damage, the most resisted damage types in the late game. Downside is the set is a bit of an endurance pig until you get SO's/IO's. Some knockback/down in the set.

Greg's Take: Great concept set and good at all levels. Early attack chains are solid with excellent take-down potential. I like this one a lot.

Katana - Very similar set to Broadsword power-wise. More stylish animations and faster recharges, but less powerful attacks. Almost exactly the same DPS as Broadsword.

Greg's Take: One of my favorites, bar none. However, not a good choice for a Silver-Age hero. Steel Blossom has this set.

Claws - Great set for a beginner Scrapper. Fast attacks, low endurance usage, fast-firing "Build-up" attack that buffs accuracy/damage, solid attack chain with some nice cones/AoEs. This set's got everything in an easy-to-use package. This is a great set for non-stop Scrapping regardless of the secondary you pick. Deals primarily Lethal damage, which is highly resisted in late game. Some knockback/down in the set.

Greg's Take: If I were going to recommend a starting Scrapper set for a new person, this is it. Easy and forgiving with fast, low-endurance attacks. Also the set could easily lend itself to a Silver-Age character concept (cat man, panther, etc)

Dark Melee - Interesting utility set. Not a raw-damage set, as it has control elements, a built-in accuracy debuff, self-heal attack, single-target Fear, etc. The Shadow Maul cone attack is the identical animation to Sands of Mu, including the rooting effect. Deals primarily negative energy/smashing damage, which is pretty unresisted throughout the game. Damage output is middle of the road with several DoT (Damage over Time) attacks smoothing out the damage curve. Somewhat endurance intensive.

Greg's Take: The utility knife of the Scrapper sets. Also a great concept set with the smoky attacks. Problem is, IMHO, this is a difficult set for beginners. It has some quirks and needs some careful slotting/power selections to make the most out of the set. Take it for the concept and you'll grow into it. Given we have vet reward respecs, there's room for tweaking if you're not happy with how it's progressing.

Spines - The AoE set for Scrappers. Many single-target attacks with some nice AoEs and a built in -rech effect in the attacks. Fast-firing similar to claws, but somewhat endurance intensive. AoE damage is where the set shines.

Greg's Take: Good set, but difficult to get rolling. True AoE capability blooms somewhat late in the build, as you need Stamina to run Quills. Some interesting Silver-Age potential here, but despite my love of AoEs, not one I get excited about.

Martial Arts - Kicks, kicks, and more kicks. All smashing/lethal damage with fairly fast animations and some stuns/slows/knockback effects mixed in. Some of the attacks have some spectacular animations. Less popular than other Scrapper sets.

Greg's Take: Cool set, decent attacks with a few questionable ones mixed in. The mixed bag of status effects (stuns, slows, knockback) is less appealing than a set that's consistent. Decent set for a Silver-Age Natural origin character, but the lack of any punches/hand attacks makes pool power attack selections a must to round out the visuals.

SECONDARIES:
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Regeneration - A quick pick for many Scrappers and a popular choice. No damage mitigation, but tons of heals/regeneration/recovery to make up for it. Integration provides a 100% base regen boost and all the status protection you need at an early level. Dull Pain and Reconstruction are the heals, with Instant Healing coming in later if needed.

Greg's Take: Solid set that lives up to it's popularity. +Recovery bonuses = non-stop Scrapping with no breaks. Set is sensitive to burst damage though, alpha strikes from a spawn can floor you before you can hit the heal powers. Fun and forgiving set, but Tough and Weave pool powers really round it out.

Invulnerability - Same as the Tank set (i.e. Mantlet) with lower resistances. Resistance based set with a nice heal that adds a 40% boost to HP for a while. Very strong set against Smashing/Lethal damage, less so against other types, big hole against psi damage. The only Scrapper set with a Taunt aura.

Greg's Take: Even as a gimped version of the Tank set, it still performs well. This is by far the LEAST popular of all Secondaries though. The Taunt aura (Invincibility) can be a killer drawing excessive aggro without Tank HP or Resistances to take the heat. Still, makes for a tough combo. Passive resist powers are next to useless

Dark Armor - The second most unpopular set, except for AoE builds. Resistance based set with a couple nice utility auras (fear/neg energy damage) and some interesting heal/resurrect powers. Kind of an odd set in that the theme is mixed, somewhat like the Dark Melee primary. No real focus for the set, but a lot of interesting powers. End usage is really high for a lot of the powers though, forcing some early choices to be viable only after Stamina.

Greg's Take: Similar to Dark Melee, this is not really a good set for beginners. The lack of ANY knockback protection in the set also pretty much guarantees needing to take the Leaping pool to pick up Acrobatics. Despite that, the set has some real play-style advantages (stealth/fear etc.) for those that can build some synergy with the Primary they pick. Great pick for a Silver-Age hero with all the dark smoky effects.

Super Reflexes - Probably after Regen in terms of popularity. Defense based set with Toggles and Passive powers against positional damage types. No self-heal in the set and the myriad of good power choices often forces a very tight build. Practiced Brawler gives great status protection and Quickness gives a run speed boost and essentially a +Rech DO level boost to all powers.

Greg's Take: Great set. Matures somewhat late due to the Defense boosts, but a killer set once it hits its stride. Lots of toggles means it's a good match for the Claws primary, there's a lot of synergy there. Quickness + Fast Claws attacks negates the need to pick up Hasten out of the power pool. Good set for beginners, as the set requires little "click" management to be effective. Great Silver-Age powerset (think Flash or Spiderman).

SLOTTING:
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As far as slotting goes for all these different Primaries/Secondaries, there is a great thread here that goes into some detail about slotting recommendations from a TO/DO/SO (primarily SO) perspective. Naturally Issue 9 and the IO enhancements make this even better, but the original post is still solid.

FORUMS:
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I also started a thread on the Scrapper forums here to get some input/recommendations from the Scrapper community on what a good starting Scrapper Primary/Secondary combination would be. Take a look if you get a chance.

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Orleans the villain?

Update 8-28-07:
It has been brought to my attention that the villain Orleans concept is "just a cheap rip-off of Grimwarden," whom you may remember from his (very) brief stint with the members of what is now Triplicate. I have removed the pictures until such time as I can show that claim to be blatantly false.
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Post 50 consolidated list

To keep everything easily accessible, I'm including the links to all the post 50 ideas here. This post will be available from the link on the side.

8-14 Idea for post 50 - Orleans

8-22 Bulding on post 50 ideas - Garthamatic

8-24 Yet more post 50 suggestions - Garthamatic

8-27 The Charged Crusader vs The Galvanic Guardian - Garthamatic

9-1 Scrapper Summaries for Rob - Garthamatic

9-05 More Silver Age... - Orleans

9-15 Mr. Eclipse Costumes - Orleans

9-19 Maybe we should hold off - Orleans

We can put all of our new comments in this thread. If you need an entire post to go over another idea, just put a link to it in this one.

I've also included the full text of the first three posts in the comments section. If this makes everything too big and unwieldy, let me know and we can take them out.

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Yet more post-50 suggestions...

First of all, congratulations to everyone for hitting Level 50 (finally). Only took us about 2 years… : )

See the full post below for the new ideas I'm floating out.
It's been a long, fun road and I had a great time. That's not to say that there isn't more to do, but now there's no pressure to level, etc. We can just indulge in whatever we desire with those characters.

Some ideas:

* All the Task Forces/Trials we missed (no XP = No impact for being defeated)
* Badge hunting in earnest (nice way to tour the zones)
* Pylon/Mothership raids in the RWZ
* Finish the mission arcs in the RWZ to see that end-game content
* Giant Monsters
* PvP zones
* Statesman's Task Force (really freaking hard from what I hear, AVs everywhere)

In other related information, I logged onto Triumph and started a couple Blasters (potential throw-aways) to try and get a feel for the AT. I discovered that going to a less populated server means that a whole bunch of Character names are available. More so than Freedom. One was a Fire/Energy Blaster named Incineratus (I think) and a Fire/Fire Blaster called Pyre8. He's the gem. A Tech origin robotic pirate scavenged from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney and given self-determination and fire powers by the mysterious Toy Man. Get it? Pyre-8? (I know, it's low even for me).

Anyway, sever appears less busy than Freedom, but not vacant. Should be fine for our needs.

So, new SG: Themes!

Some ideas:
* Gold/Silver age heroes. Tights, classic costume elements, themed names.
* Scottish themed. Kilts, rough-and ready costumes, beards, etc.
* Nordic themed, Norse mythology maybe. Ice powered characters, axes, broadswords, etc. Helmets with horns
* All-Monster SG. I saw one of these once on Freedom and it was a riot. Names like "Blue Monster", "Red Monster", "Yellow Monster", all monstrous costume elements with color combos echoing the name of the character
* An all-reformed villain SG. Some great costume options and RP elements here. Ex-Brute Tanks, Ex-Stalker Scrappers, etc.
* Sci-Fi themed SG: Robots, space costumes, etc. No magic origin characters.
* Clown SG: Crazy costumes, crazy hair, etc. Good RP elements here, but may wear thin over time.
* Alternate Universe Apotheosis: Alternate dimension versions of our existing heroes. Such as Cacaphony as a Scrapper, Mantlet as a Defender, etc. Have to work out some back-story for this one. Think the original Star Trek mirror universe episode.

Whatever is fine. My creative juices are pumping so I figured I'd send a note while they were fresh (I've been trapped with my laptop in an absurdly boring meeting).


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Building on the post-50 ideas...

Eric has some great ideas in his previous post on the topic. Kudos for the suggestions. I had a few other refinements/thoughts (see below)...

I was thinking about it, and I believe there is a possibility that we can choose a flexible option for the "new character/new supergroup" concept. If our characters stay on the Freedom server, we can create new characters, make a new supergroup and proceed as planned/suggested. BUT, we could also form a coalition with Apotheosis. That would allow us to have access to it as needed (and only if we choose to) but would still allow the challenge of building the new base from the ground up (so to speak). A coalition would also allow cross-SG chat between all characters. This might be an exciting option for Boots or Matt to get sucked back in.

If we wanted to pursue a different server, they are beginning Cross Server Transfers to spread out the population and allow people to play with their friends. That may be an option to keep an eye on, as if we ever have need to shunt characters back and forth, that would be the way to do it (potentially to keep little-used ALTs without deleting them, such as Villains). Since the Consignment Markets are all cross-server, there would be little impact that way and it would offer a method (if cleverly used) to transfer influence cross-server.

Picking a theme might be another option (Greek myth, sci-fi, pop culture, catholic school girls gone bad... well... maybe not that last one). We could name our characters and have costumes that echo the theme and carry it over into the super-group base, as well.

I'm on the fence about picking ATs. Since we are going to be playing together, they should complement each other (i.e. 3 Defenders might be bad). But with a Tank to hold aggo, almost any mix will work (or at least a Tank makes things easier). I'd like some suggestions from you two on this, as I'm really open to whatever makes you happy/interested. A fresh start should be fun for everyone.

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Idea for post 50

Just an idea:

Start over with 3 new toons at level 1.
Only play those toons when the three of us are together.
Create an entirely new Supergroup - new base, everything.
Focus on story and content (lots of missions, not so much hunting)
See how long it takes us (in hours played) to make 50.

We should all start over with archetypes we are unfamiliar with: Greg shouldn't be a Tank or Scrapper, I shouldn't be a Tank or Blaster, etc. Contollers and Defenders have myriad configurations and tactics, so I guess Rob could be a Defender, but a different one. Remember we'll have the option of Peacebringers and Warshades, as well. We can all have a different origin so as to reduce duplication of missions at the beginning and coordinate contacts so we don't do the same things over and over. If we could get firm commitments from our wayward SGmates (Boots, Troy, Matt) we could have them along, too.

When the entire group couldn't get together, we would always have villains or alts.

The idea behind all of this: So much has changed since we've started playing, I think that starting a group from scratch would be an entirely different experience than the one we are about to finish.

Not that I want to abandon Apotheosis. I know we have Villains to play and Recluse's Victory, taskforces, accolades, etc. to do. It's just an idea for the future.

OK - discuss!

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