Drunkard's Walk Forums

New name/concept. Cool or Stupid?
So... one of my favourite concepts in the comic book world... is the powersuited hero. The armoured vigilante. Iron Man, MACH-1 to MACH-IV. Anime-wise, I'm also a fan of Bubblegum Crisis.
But I don't have an armoured CoH character that I play regularly. I've tried to make some in the past, notably Flu Shot on Infinity, but they've not worked out too well for whatever reason. In Flu's case, I've realised I don't like playing an Ice/Ice Tanker. And the whole "coated in ice" thing doesn't seem too power-armoury anyway, even if I technobabble about pirated Crey Cryo Tank technology.
So.

Here's my latest effort. Elec/Elec Blaster. I've got him created on Infinity under the name "Circuit-3"... but I'm thinking of turning it into an acronym. Rerolling in all-caps. CIRCUIT-3.
Is that a good pun, or a hideously bad one?
Also, is it clever or stupid to have him be the same guy as Flu Shot, just wearing a different suit? The idea being that Crey Industries shut him down. They sued, you see. Unlicensed use of their cryo technology.
...is that a good idea? I'm serious, I really need a second call on this. =P
-- Acyl

Well, I see nothing wrong with the concept, so I'll give my comments on the powerset since that's what stopped you from playing flu shot.
Electricity as a primary, personally, is a lot of fun with some pretty good damage, though it tends to cost a fair bit of End.
Electricity as a secondary, though, I'm not a huge fan of. It does have several good points, but most of them follow the theme of the primary. In other words, great powers and versatility but you burn though End extremely fast, particularly in the beginning when you're not used to it.
My personal opinion, is, maybe change one of the powersets so you don't run out of steam quite so fast. The energy powersets work pretty well with powersuits as well, the rifle and device powersets too.
Although if you can work around the Endurance costs, the Elec/Elec powerset is very good. There's a pet, a hold, a few End theft power, everything you need for soloing.
Mind you, all that's my impressions from playing Blasters almost non-stop since I got CoH and is not supported by actual research, so take it with a grain of salt.
-Edit-
As for your idea of making it the same guy as Flu Shot who got sued, I absolutely love that idea and it even gives you a convenient main enemy.

I'm not up on how elec/elec is to play, but the idea that Flu Shot was sued and he came back ROCKS.
-Cindy

You need Mekadave to comment on his experiences playing an Elec/Elec with Jimmy Amp.

From my own limited experience, Electrical for blasters, *especially* the secondary, is a set chock full of promise that fails to deliver in practice.--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

Hi Acyl!
Ahhhh...I just have to comment on this one, being the armoured battlesuit nut that I am. ^_^
>So... one of my favourite concepts in the comic book >world... is the powersuited hero. The armoured vigilante.
> Iron Man, MACH-1 to MACH-IV. Anime-wise, I'm also a fan
> of Bubblegum Crisis.
Woohoo! A fellow mecha nut! ^_^
Anyhow, the suit design and the concept (being sued and retaliating) is very cool, Acyl.
Now, for power sets, I can only offer my observations from my years of blaster playing. (Level 50 Fire/Ice, Level 33 Energy/Energy, Level 46 Ice/Electric, and Level 15 Electric/Fire)
First, on any secondary I tend to skip most of the powers other than the bare minimum (Build-up) or the really cool and useful ones (Conserve Power, Power Sink, Consume, Boost Range(!!) ). I am not a blapper, and in my admittedly biased and autotyrannical opinion, blasters have no business being in Melee. You are the field artillery, stay the hell away from the crazy psychos with the claws/swords/martial arts.
Electrical primary is VERY good for damage, and it has the added perk of endurance draining. I have an electrical blaster on Champion with the fire secondary (Firesparque), and I've slotted Ball Lightning and Short Circuit with damage AND Endurance drain. My usual tactic is Aim/Build-up, fire Ball Lightning and then superspeed into the mob and hit Short-Circuit. If done right, the bad guys are badly hurt and have suffered mucho endurance loss. Even better, Short Circuit stops their recovery briefly. (There's a slim chance that the endurance drained transfers to you, so that's a bonus - I haven't had huge end problems yet.)
There is one VERY important note about Short Circuit: It is an aggro magnet par excellence. If you use it, you WILL aggro most of the mob, and it is possible to out-aggro the tanker that way. (Yes, I've done it. Carry several Respites. ^_^ )
I have the Electrical secondary on my Ice/Electric blaster, and I'd have to say I like it. Again, I'm running with the bare minimum of powers from it, but I haven't had any complaints. Power Sink is AWESOME for sucking endurance from mobs around you in tight spots. Of all of my blasters, I've had the least problems soloing with Winterwynd, in part because Ice Blast has two single-foe holds, and the rest of the powers cause slow effects. For the electrical secondary I've only got the Electric Fence power, Build-up, Thunderstrike (for those "Oh shit!" moments when somebody melees you) and Power Sink.
SO that's my two cents plus taxes.
Oh, and there is no such thing as a horrid pun, Acyl. You should know that by now.
Later!
Bert V.V.
skyknight@sentex.net

Circuit-3 is one of the better name puns, since Joe Grinder is likely not to even NOTICE the pun.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

I'm no Joe Grinder, but I'm feeling stupid today. Can someone explain the pun to me?

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

Circuit-3 kinda sounds like Circuitry.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

... ow.
Well, slap a stupid sticker on my forehead, it's official. I'm DUMB today. Thanks for explaining, Fox.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

Heh. Thanks for the feedback, everyone.
I should probably note...thus far I've only really enjoyed one blaster - Astreal, my Level 22 Ice/Ice on Virtue. I have an AR/Dev on Pinnacle, but I don't really like the build, I just stick with it for concept reasons. Astreal, however... I really enjoy playing Astreal. Why? Ice Blast has three solid single-target attacks, and with Hasten on I can cycle them really fast. And right now I've got one single-target hold and can only expect more. I really appreciate the safety margin it gives.
That's in part why I figured I'd try the Elec primary - it's got a hold. I also assumed Short Circuit would be decent eventually as well, slotted for endmod...I do recognise that Elec's end drain really hasn't been great since Enhancement Diversification, but what the hell.
I considered Energy Blast for a primary, but...I've played an Energy/Energy Blaster up to Level 19, and frankly I didn't like the experience. Space Mage is also a Dark/Energy defender, and I don't like to repeat blast sets if I can help it.
As for secondaries... well, thematically speaking, I don't think /Ice, /Fire, or /Devices really fit.
That leaves /Energy or /Electric... seemed like Electric had more control options and synergy with the primary.
-- Acyl

Well, I'm still waffling on whether to have the name as Circuit-3 or CIRCUIT-3.
The all-caps would make it an acronym, of course. Something horribly cheesy like "Cybernetic Integrated Revision Combat UnIT" - yeah, I totally just pulled that out the top of my head. =P
I dunno if that's too silly though. So. Circuit-3 or CIRCUIT-3?
And it's good to know that my notion of a guy bouncing back from a lawsuit has sufficient cool factor. e_e
(He probably uses open source software in the armour now.)
-- Acyl

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That leaves /Energy or /Electric... seemed like Electric had more control options and synergy with the primary.

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Mmm... you'd probably be better off with /Electric then. I'm a huge fan of /Energy, but it's because I like being able to deal huge damage and /Energy has several good melee attacks and is earliest to get Build Up if I remember right.
That and being able to punt enemies across the room as a blaster is fun.
*Enemy rushes to melee range*
*PUNT*
*Enemy is on the ground and being pelted with ridiculous amounts of damage*

First off - I REALLY like the visual design of the suit! I especially like the two-tone color scheme on the legs. And the helmet is really unique looking with the "Cyclopean" eyepiece and the iron jaw. The particular shade of blue chosen it really good too. Comes off as a sort of "gun metal blue". And the large gauntlets and heavy boots really give weight to the design. I like the Red in the lenses being echoed in the chest piece and the jewel in the belt. It sets off everything else and draws the eye upwards to where you notice the helmet more.
As to his origin, I like it! The whole lawsuit requiring completely new armor design is something I don't think I've seen before, but makes perfect sense. The closest parallel I can think of is the set up of the movie The Incredibles. And that's no bad thing.
As for Circuit-3. I like the pun. It's just subtle enough that you have to think to get it. As to whether you should go for Circuit-3 or CIRCUIT-3, I'm utterly unable to express a preference. Either way would work, really.
As for powersets - I have limited experience with blasters, and haven't tried out an Elec/Elec blaster myself. I can say that having worked with a few, both the primary and secondary are really quite awesome, and the energy drain on the villains ranges from noticeable to downright tactically devastating! From a PVP angle, having suffered at the hands of Electricity wielding corrupters, I can say the energy drain is DAMNED annoying.
As for the possibility of going with the Energy secondary - I'll relate my experience playing Stalnoy Volk (and since he's on Infinity, you'll get a chance to team with him almost certainly)
The Energy Secondary has quite a few good point blank "Blapper" attacks that are very potent. Potent enough that although Stalnoy will always start with ranged attacks, I am not at all hesitant to have him go hand to hand if the fight goes that way. Since most of the Energy Secondary attacks also do knockback and/or Knockdown, picking up Air Superiority really makes for an awesome combo! It's the main reason, I think, why Stalnoy can afford to stay in melee range so often. Hard for the enemy to actually land those dangerous blows when you are constantly knocking them down or away.
Of course - take all of the above with the caveat that my usual favorite AT is Scrappers. I'm used to both melee and debt.
It kinda does look funny, because both Stalnoy and Thibor have Energy as their secondary, so you have both a Tank and a Blaster pounding on people with the great pink pom poms of destruction.
(EDIT: I don't know why I said Thibor has Energy Melee, of course he has Superstrength. I must have been thinking of someone else. Odd mental transposition there.)
I'm certain that there's been many times when Stalnoy Volk teamed with Thibor that the Werewolf has been exasperated with him. ^_^
"Is not for blaster to pretend to be doing tank's job, crazy Russian!!"
-Logan
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"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
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Thibor is Invulnerability/Super Strength, not energy; and is rarely, if ever, annoyed at blasters who charge headlong and have said aforementioned heads handed back to them.
On the other hand, Bella Fuego Fire/Fire/Fire blaps perhaps more than she should, but if you pull it off, you look really good.
(As for bad puns, I recently created a skeletal Fire/Radiation controller dubbed the Dead PyreRad Roberts.)
I like the idea of a heroic identity being infringed by a technology copywrite. There is something gloriously mundane about it which add an interesting dichotomy to the toon.
Shayne

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That and being able to punt enemies across the room as a blaster is fun.
*Enemy rushes to melee range*
*PUNT*
*Enemy is on the ground and being pelted with ridiculous amounts of damage*

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I remember this from the one blaster I've tried to play, Tekiko. Shoot the enemies full of arrows, knock them down, shoot them full of more arrows! (Thus my occaisionally thinking of her as "Tekiko the Sadistic Schoolgirl". '.'; )
Unfortunately, it got to the point where it seemed offense would not be enough of a defense for me... It's too bad, because I really like the way Archery looks.
-Morgan.
"I have to seduce you, and see how Haruhi Suzumiya reacts."
-Ryouko Asakura, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

Hm, time for my .02 inf....
First off, awesome bio concept, and I love the built-in name pun.
A triple electric blaster can be VERY effective. I have every power in the primary except for Voltaic Sentinel. I have a very good ranged attack chain. The Electric Epic adds a needed Cone attack with Static Discharge that really fills out the chain.
The early powers in the secondary can be pretty good if you like to blap, but it's not my preference, so I didn't take Charged Brawl or Havok Punch. I would if I could fit them as they do great damage. Didn't take Lightning Clap or Lightning Field, either. I have the rest of the secondary powers, though. Thunder Strike is a great 'oh crap' melee attack for anything that gets close, as it's an AOE and will knock back multiple targets.
Power Sink and Short Circuit (in that order) make a combo that will suck dry the end of anything nearby, keep it from coming back, and fill your end bar from nothing. They both need to be slotted with 3 recharge and 3 end mod.
The Hold powers are one of my favorite parts. When you add in the Electric Epic pool, you have three Holds, two of them ranged, and the melee Hold is High damage. You can layer holds on a boss with ease between Tesla Cage and Shocking Bolt.
Electric has a great nuke chain. Aim + Build Up + Ball Lightning + Thunderous Blast will wipe most groups and leave any surviving bosses with few HP and less end. Pop a blue or two and clean up the rest.
All in all, very effective. I've heard some people say that elec does less damage, but I've gotten plenty of compliments for the damage I've dished out.
Global: @Jimmy Amp
"Broad-minded is just another way of saying a fellow's too lazy to form an opinion." -- Will Rogers

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Thibor is Invulnerability/Super Strength, not energy; and is rarely, if ever, annoyed at blasters who charge headlong and have said aforementioned heads handed back to them.

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Okay, thanks for the correction on the powerset. Now that I think about it, I don't know why I thought his was Energy Melee. Must've been thinking about someone else.
As far as him being annoyed or not - C'mon, Thibor is ALWAYS annoyed at something! And if he isn't, he's pretending just to keep up appearances. ^_^

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(As for bad puns, I recently created a skeletal Fire/Radiation controller dubbed the Dead PyreRad Roberts.)

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Ow... owie... owowowowow ouch...
-Logan
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"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
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Hi Folks! ^_^

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(As for bad puns, I recently created a skeletal Fire/Radiation controller dubbed the Dead PyreRad Roberts.)

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Oh lord.... I must doff my hat to such an inspired name. That's just too damn funny. Bravo! ^_^
BTW, Acyl - you inspired me into creating another alt. *sigh*
Hyperstream, Technological Electric/Electric blaster, sporting a very nice armour design that I think MechaDeuce is going to infringe upon in the near future. ^_^
Regards,
Bert V.V.
skyknight@sentex.net

Seems like everyone's got a grudge against Crey Industries. But in my case, they got a grudge against me. I got sued. Taken to court. Ordered to cease and decist. See, I'm an armored hero, yeah? But Crey said my suit was using trademark Cryo Tank technology. Without a license. So they shut me down. With all the legal bills and damages...I had to sell my armor. And my car. AND my house. But now, I'm back in the game. This time, I've made sure there isn't a scrap of lousy stinking Crey tech in my armor. Not this time. Thank God for Open Source.
-- Acyl

LOVE IT!! -Logan
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"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
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Unfortunately, it got to the point where it seemed offense would not be enough of a defense for me... It's too bad, because I really like the way Archery looks.

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Well, being a blaster is not only about offense being defense, but also about using every advantage you can find, doing devastating first strikes and being very careful not to be attacked by surprise. Also, having a good 'Ohshitohshit RUNAWAY! (*Uses whatever travel power he has*)' reflex is key to surviving ambushes.

Hi Folks!

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Well, being a blaster is not only about offense being defense, but also about using every advantage you can find, doing devastating first strikes and being very careful not to be attacked by surprise. Also, having a good 'Ohshitohshit RUNAWAY! (*Uses whatever travel power he has*)' reflex is key to surviving ambushes.

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*blinkblink*
Run? o_O
RUN?! O_o?!
I don't run from no steeenking Crey ambushers! I blast the bejeebers out of them and stand triumphantly on the heap of steaming carcasses! NUKE 'EM ALL!!!!*
Errr....that was the 'Evil twin' of MechaDeuce talking...really, it was.... ^.^;
Bert V.V.
skyknight@sentex.net
*(This is, of course, why Mecha has 14k debt right now. =P *sigh* With your shield or on it.... )

Blasters, more so than, use the 'active defense' principle - essentially that your only defense is to actively manage your offense and your situation to keep yourself alive.
Tankers/Brutes/Scrappers have straight def/res.
Stalkers have def/res and aggro mitigation.
Defenders and Corruptors have their buff/debuff/etc to mitigate a lot of danger.
MMs have their pets, *and* their secondaries.
Controllers have their controls and their secondaries.

Doms come close. Despite their Control primaries, they only have a damage secondary. In many ways, they're to Blasters what Corruptors are to Defenders.

Edit: This is probably why I get so frustrated playing Bowtruckle - he plays like a Dominator more than a Defender, without the handy "Minute of Pwn"--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

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Well, being a blaster is not only about offense being defense, but also about using every advantage you can find, doing devastating first strikes and being very careful not to be attacked by surprise. Also, having a good 'Ohshitohshit RUNAWAY! (*Uses whatever travel power he has*)' reflex is key to surviving ambushes.

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I don't know... it seems like most of those things are part of doing well for most of the characters I've played. Not really for Eri... but she's a dark melee/regen scrapper. It's about as unsubtle in execution as a combination gets. But for the controller, defender, corrupter, mastermind, and sometimes for my other scrappers, not being surprised and getting things going the way you want them are critical...
Just with blaster, it never seemed like quite enough, and looked like it would get worse before it got better.
That's part of why so far I've been enjoying playing a corrupter - it's like the stuff I liked about blaster, except I tend to survive most fights. I really, really, really wish you could make heroside characters with villain archtypes...
-Morgan, *still* hates the Rogue Isles. >.>"This continuity is now a Princess of Darkness crossover."
"... They're all going to die, aren't they?"
"Yep. Popcorn?"