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So, I started playing Champions Online...
So, I started playing Champions Online...
#1
...f2p only, of course, so I've created and deleted several characters trying to find a class I like - basically the norm for starting an MMO.

Which really makes me feel sick, because if there's one strength of the PnP Champions, it's that it is blessedly free of classes and levels. On the other hand, most casual internet gamers would consider working through the Hero build system a significant barrier to entry, and having levels you go up by is familiar, as is a level cap vs. a point limit. Still annoys me that I'd have to pay real money to get anything but the seven or eight most basic archetypes, particularly since none of them are quite what I want to play. The ice blaster/tank (Glacier) and mage (Grimoire) aren't too far off overall, though I'd prefer beam FX for their attack powers. Anyway...

I was going to include the (dinky) images the character creator saves of my favorite two iterations, which look like they'll be what I choose between for a main, but ImageShack is being a bitch and I can't log in, so you'll have to make do with descriptions. Due to a marginal computer to run the game on, I usually pick the least populated instance when there's a choice, but perhaps one of you will see me.

Czyyk'thzz is, well, Cthulhu basically. Pale mint green with darker teal membranes on various fins and the dragon wings, the Beehive Hairdo part colored to blend in with the skin for that classic huge oblong octopoid head, and the "tentacles" face accessory, hands and feet. She's (I generally do all-female video game characters, even if they're eldritch horrors from beyond I still preferr staring at a woman's ass for hours on end rather than a man's) the ice tank, and wears arms and leg nands plus a belt/swim briefs and shoulder mantle with the Arcane patterns in sanity destroying orange, purple, and lime. Her name is pronounced as if you were saying "check this" at the same time as "shake the ice," though with limited human vocal equipment the closest you're likely to get is "chayk thee-iz" or thereabouts.

Steamhex is much easier to vocalize (well, her hero name anyway... her civilian name pre-conversion is Czlyydwr, "sell ya a door." She's originally welsh, though neither of those names actually mean anything as far as I know in any language.) and is all done up in brass and steel with copper bits or bright purple gems here and there (the Robotic head, arms and legs on a Circuitry patten torso with the half-armor chest layer part, none of the cash-shop Steampunk Cyborg bits) plus a shiny black top hat and a black half-cape with purple lining, sometimes switched for the Tech Stealth jetpack and an equally shiny black skullcap. Obviously, she's the Grimoire, since I already covered the Glacier character.

A distant third possibility is Crimson Crescent, a twin-lightsaber using melee-type (can't remember the actual class name - Unbound? I thought it was something with a D - obviously a Jedi ripoff, though, or more accurately Sith given the whole black default costume and combat orientation) with a maroon and medium grey half-armored suit, which has a bright red visor and trim stripes to match the sabers. I prefer to keep enemies a bit beyond arm's length, though, and it's a pretty generic looking costume, so this is unlikely.

Any n00b advice or tips to hand out?
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
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#2
Bear in mind that I don't actively play Champions Online anymore, but...
The real saving grace of the CO combat system is the flexibility for freeform characters, but that's of course only a paying customer feature. Well, you can put down the Zen or grind out Questionite, convert that to Zen, and purchase just a single freeform slot...but that's hideously expensive for what it is.
So, credentials - I've never actually played an archetype, but I have messed around with pretty much all the powers in the following archetypes I mention, on freeform characters. So that's where I'm coming from, in measuring effectiveness.
Gameplay-wise, my firm belief is that the archetype DPS and solo-survivability characters (Hybrids) do alright, but the ones meant to be tanks and healers really really can't hack those roles in comparison to the freeformers. In comparison, there are some DPS archetypes that are very near the freeform ideal in terms of raw combat effectiveness anyway.
This means I'm very very unimpressed with the Glacier on paper, and from what I've seen of it. But I need to qualify that statement - you could solo very well with the Glacier, but you won't actually be able to perform well as a tank in a group for a lot of group content.
Other than that, it is a ranged character that's very tough, so you could certainly solo with it, again. If sticking with this, I suggest picking talents and gear with criticals in mind. Honestly, I think the Ice set is better built as a ranged DPS crit-heavy character than as the basis for a tank. You can tank with any set in CO, on a freeform character, but some of course work better than others. In brief, the main strength of the set is laying down a lot of AoE chill and ice constructs, and then shattering them for big damage. In order to tank for a team, you'll need the Crippling Challenge advantage on Ice Blast and Challenging Strikes on Frost Breath or Avalanche, possibly both.
The Grimoire is potentially good, because Aura of Primal Majesty is
very strong - you also can get Circle of Arcane Power and Skarn's Bane
in the long run. That's enough of a base to do some truly hideously
incredible sustained damage...even though you're technically a support character.  The trouble is until you get there, it
won't shine, and you're going to be somewhat squishy. AoPM is great for an across-the-board stat buff for you and your entire team, but it does zilch for personal survivability, and you take a health hit if you use your Sentinel role. Teleport may be useful as an oh-crap button in this regard, as a travel power. Very strong in the long run, again, but levelling the Grimoire may be a bit of a pain.
You do have an ally heal on the Grimoire, but again, this isn't going to be sufficient for you to be doing any sort of 'main healer' type gameplay in a group. It's the sort of thing to use to keep allies or yourself topped up when you have a moment. The Radiant is a functional healer archetype, not the Grimoire. You're not really healing as your main contribution to the team, it's more a sort of buff/debuff support angle.
The Unleashed is also good on paper, there's some clever synergy going down there. Unstoppable buffs all the melee and ranged powers, because I think Force attacks are typed crushing damage. Knockback, knock-towards and so on in the Force powers give you energy from Unstoppable. You have Form of the Tempest, which on a crit-heavy character - like this is - is unquestionably the best Form power. As you have a Dragon attack, you can convert Focus stacks built whenever you crit (due to Tempest) to Rush for even more energy. That's not even starting on the fact that Dragon's Wrath is one of the best single target nuke attacks in the game, period. Finally, you have a self-heal, though granted not the tools to maximise the healing numbers.
I'd say stick with the Unleashed if you like it. It's well-designed.
Out of the starting archetypes, I'd say Marksman and Soldier are actually near-ideal builds in terms of combat viability for their type, if the archer and gunner concepts are even remotely what you're interested in. They're ranged DPS, but a Marksman could also be fairly survivable in the long run with dodge/avoidance stacking on gear, since he has the Quarry passive as a base to work from.
For the cash purchase archetypes, I'd say all the Hybrid role archetypes are worth a look if you're after something that would be extremely friendly for a new player and excel solo, while still contributing...decent, if not fantastic damage, to a team. The Savage (catgirl, beast, etc.) is extremely strong as a solo-friendly character, possibly the best...with the Specialist (two swords and guns) pretty good too.
The Invincible (power armor) and the Impulse (force fields) look decent too. Incidentally, if you want energy beams, the Impulse is your archetype. You'll find a max rank Force Blast and a max rank Force Cascade very very satisfying. The Invincible also can pick up Chest Beam, which is also quite nice.
If you're aiming to spend money at all, I would look at these first. These are all better choices for a new player than the actual free archetypes. Because Cryptic is evil, I guess. I dunno. You tell me.
If you're truly interested in two-energy-sword action, the Disciple may be an alternative to the Unleashed for that purpose. The Disciple's based around Telekinesis Ego Blades, which is more a Psylocke thing - but the visual options for the energy blades are all handheld weaponry, scimitars and broadswords, etc.
-- Acyl
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#3
If you're looking for just outright DPS ownage from an AT, take the Tempest. I've got a character currently leveling up using that AT and for a stock AT it is MURDEROUSLY powerful in terms of DPS output. 
Invincible (Power Armor) is also very nice. I've experimented with an AT of it a couple of times and aside from the usual AT issues, it compares favorably with my Freeform Power Armor character. 

Devastator is a hell of a lot of fun swinging around huge weapons. It's basically "Titan Weapons" from COH. Full stop.  
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#4
I recently bought the Devastator using zen acquired with questionite, and recreated St. Trinian's Girl with it, and I've been having a lot of fun. Now if only I could trade that fscking big hammer in for something that looks like a field hockey stick...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#5
Well, it tends to look more like a cricket bat than a field hockey stick, but I have mentioned the Heavy Tahia as an option Bob.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-

NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children
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#6
Keep in mind Drogn said FtP so the Tempest and Invincible are not available also the same for the Devastator if the wiki isn't full of bologna. The Unleashed has minor self healing with Bountiful chi resurgence and very good damage and melee aoe and further defensive measures with Eye of the Storm so its a very good archtype in my opinion if you want damage and some survival. Sadly I can't give more advice on the other free AT's as I haven't played them.

..I'd say more but I'm out the door as I type this and really..Acyl's pretty much summed it up. IMO I'd consider the Unleashed one of the more new player friendly AT's due to how effective Eye of the Storm is granting you a Hitpoint Absorb shield that amps up as you maintain it while doing some damage and you get it fairly early on.
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#7
If I do buy anything at all (most likely via the questionite trade as mentioned above) it'll be the Invincible, because mecha/power armor is and always will be my first love in any genre they can be justified to inhabit, or else a freeform slot. In the mean time... well, like I said, I haven't gotten any character very far, it wouldn't be a big loss to erase one and go back to Crimson Crescent, possibly with the design factor punched up a bit since I was kind of phoning it in on that one due to knowing my preference usually lies in mid to long range.

How soloable is the Radiant? I've actually played more healers than anything else in tabletop games, but for videogames I am usually almost exclusively solo, and people tend to design healers as if they're always going to be standing behind a tank with a DPS blaster giving cover fire, rather than giving them any decent defense or attack powers. I'm fine with having to nickel and dime things to death, as long as I can survive long enough to do it through defenses and/or self-HOTs; the energy equilibrium mechanic and rather fast enemy respawn makes the inverse strategy of squishing a mob with burst DPS and then lurking until the energy for high attack abilities recoers of a squishy heal/blaster unworkable, and it's not team-friendly anyway unlike the healer-you-don't-have-to-protect-from-all-harm.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
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#8
Quote:Star Ranger4 wrote:
Well, it tends to look more like a cricket bat than a field hockey stick, but I have mentioned the Heavy Tahia as an option Bob.
Indeed you did, but, well, cricket is a sport I think you're guaranteed not to find at St. Trinian's.  
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#9
BTW, Perfect World has a page on its site where you can take surveys and do other marketing-based stuff in exchange for Zen. The surveys are fairly innocuous and give on the average around 100 Zen each, if you match the target profile and get all the way to the end. If you're relatively unconcerned about privacy and/or are willing to do things like download an app or apply for a credit card, you can get as much as 500-1000 Zen at a pop.

(Although I have to say I wonder just who the marketers think are playing PW games -- I'm pretty sure I got disqualified for at least one of the surveys because I wasn't an upper-level manager with IT purchase approval at a business with more than 1000 employees and making over $50 million annually...)

Anyway, if you have the patience, and you match enough target profiles, you can churn up quite a bit of Zen this way.
ETA:  The URL for the page is http://offers.perfectworld.com/
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#10
If your interested I can be on Champions at anytime to give you an invite to our SG which would let you get access to our bank full of random goodies, as i've told others don't hesitate to grab something out of there that you think will be useful at some point.
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#11
I would consider the Radiant to be surprisingly soloable, especially once you pick up Vengance and can play god smiting his enemies (I love the animation of the beam coming down from the sky to smite your foes). I have a friend who's played the radiant some and he found it to be pretty easy going for the most part, at least from the early stages. He only got to 19ish before he stopped playing but was obviously more than able to handle himself.
PS:I'll watch for you in Champs via looking for characters in game and contact you in game. @TerrenceKnight which is also my Namesake character so it'll be pretty easy to tell its me *grin*
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#12
Well, after the advice given here I've gone back to trying the archtypes I hadn't yet given much time, Soldier, Radiant, and I'm thinking I'll give Unleashed another shot too. As such, it's not really worthwhile to bring them into a supergroup since they're likely as not to be deleted again shortly. For now at least, though, there's Steamgunner (a minor variation on Steamhex as described above, with cowboy hat rather than top hat and no cape) and Remedy (grey jumpsuit, orange hard hat, bronze cybernetic forearms/hands and shins/feet) and I did the Crimson Crescent redesign before making them, now with mostly black on the scattered hard armor bits, a black hood, and the "curved steps" full cape with black at the top, medium red for the "steps," and dark grey at the bottom, so you can wave hello or something if anyone happens to see them. I... am not sure what you mean by "@TerrenceKnight" - I didn't think special characters were allowed in the names...
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
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#13
Sorry i should have clarified as my Player Handle is the same as my Main Character name so in chat it would show up as Terrence Knight@Terrence Knight.
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#14
Ah, okay. I actually went and made a second account (don't tell anyone!) so Remedy and Steamgunner are @Siglen, while Crimson Crescent and one of the original pair I posted about will be @Czlyydwr. I probably won't be on again until late tonight though.

Note that "siglen" actually is welsh, it means "swamp." Welsh is sparking awesome.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
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#15
Actually, Terr, I think your global is @TerrenceKnight1 _>
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI
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#16
Yeah you got me there, forgot the 1. @Terrenceknight1

If I can catch you on I'll send you a tell and a friend invite.
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#17
Regarding the Radiant:-

The Radiant's based on the Seraphim passive. Seraphim provides three things - a large buff to healing powers, a tiny AoE heal-over-time around you, and it increases all paranormal damage.

(Paranormal meaning dimensional, ego and magic damage).

And it's a support passive, meaning you can slot it in the support (Sentinel) role. That role reduces your HP and damage somewhat, but gives you a further bonus to healing, plus higher innate energy equilibrium - you gain energy back faster.

The damage bonus from Seraphim offsets the damage hit you get from being in Sentinel. Seraphim is the only passive that can be used in Sentinel role that grants a damage bonus.
Combined with the fact you have crazy energy regen, this means a Seraphim-based character in Sentinel can sit there and pump out attacks for decent damage all day long, since energy is not a concern. Granted, the Radiant doesn't have any really top-tier facemelting attacks...the ones it does have are average to weak. But the damage will be decent within those perimeters.

With all the healing buffs, the Radiant will get good heal numbers on Rebuke and Arcane Vitality. You will be able to heal yourself as well. Do note that this will be your main self-survivability, since other than this you don't really have much in the way of self-protection.
That said, healers tend to draw a lot of aggro in groups, because healing does generate threat. The Radiant has really nothing to deal with incoming burst damage on yourself, and has no means of dropping threat if you are aggro'd. 
-- Acyl
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#18
Hmm. I still find myself quite liking the Radiant, but I can see how generating malice like a tank when you're squishy could be a Bad Thing. What do Perfect World's happybucks cost in real money? If they're mils as seems to be standard for most microtransaction models, the 5k for a freeform character slot would only be $5, and I can justify THAT much (even a bit more for some of the spiffy cash shop costume parts) if it would let me do a "radiant with better defense" build to use. Just noodling around in the character creator I made a power armor I've been calling "The Magenta Avenger" (All the other colors were taken, he says - yes, he, as the chest piece (Ancient Tech Armor) isn't available on the female model - Empyrean Armor is vaguely close but not really the same, or as spiffy) and come up with a ... not backstory, exactly, but the character background I'd be using if he was a PnP Champs character. You see, $name was always a superhero fan, and would fantasize about how things like flight and a touch of superstrength would make his job (owner of a yard work/tree trimming service) easier... so he hacked together a super-suit, if one with more attention paid to looking cool than real protection, and renamed his business. Now it's "Magenta Avenger's Superhero Topiary & Arboreal Service" and features slogans like, "When it comes to trouble in your back yard, whether the problem is crime or dead branches we're the MASTAS!" or "We don't just rescue kittens from trees, we can rescue your tree from storm damage or harmful pests as well." The healing powers of his suit are indeed handy if a bough is partly broken but not yet dead or snapped off, or to deal with blights and scales. And if being a liscenced supertech user means he's on call when crime waves or disaster strikes, well that's just his civic duty innit?

But mainly I'm amused by the Tiger and Bunny-ish idea of a superhero shilling for a lawn service as he rescues people or turns captured perps over to law enforcement in front of the cameras. Obviously there's little to do in that vein in a video game where the scenarios are written in the traditional four-color style and typing /says would greatly interfere with actually using the controls for combat, but it engages the role-playing aspect a little more...

It's a pity "hop on a motorcyle" isn't a possible "travel power" ala super-running, or I could make a Kamen Rider. Actually getting one of the gravbikes apparently takes a concerted effort and numerous high-level missions. (Or the cash shop, but I'm only willing to bend my principles so far.)
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
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#19
Oh wow. I hate to break this to you, so have a seat. Relax. Chill, and assume crash position. Right. The baseline is - in US dollars - $1 to 100 zen. That's $10 to 1000 zen. So a Freeform slot is $50. 
Yeah, okay. Moving on...

With that said, you can convert in-game currency to Zen, at player-determined exchange rates. I don't personally know of anyone who's bought a Freeform slot this way, but I do know folks who've made 5000 Zen purchases in Star Trek Online with this method. In part taking advantage of favourable exchange. Granted, they all said it took like 3-6 months of regular gameplay to do that.

I'm not sure how hard it is to come by a grav bike - you can probably purchase them outright off the auction market, but again that would require a certain amount of in-game capital. It's also possible some of the dedicated Champions players here might have extras. I don't know. I don't really care for the game that much - I used to, but at this point I've done most of the levelling content and don't particularly enjoy what endgame exists.

It's worth noting that the aggro issues as a Seraphim user are really exclusively group problems. I do not imagine this will be a huge issue solo. In groups, though - yeah, I wouldn't personally wish to play a character with the Seraphim secondary without the safety net of an aggro-drop or good self-protection power.

In fact, even running as a Freeform character with various kinds of self-protection stacked on top of Seraphim, I still eventually moved away from Seraphim on my healer mage to Aura of Radiant Protection as his passive, to be less squishy.
-- Acyl
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#20
Uh HUH. Well, that nicely removes any chance of my spending real money on the game. At all. Ever. But with what you say, it sounds as if I'll probably do well enough with a Radiant where I mostly prefer to solo. Now I just have to decide whether to use the Remedy or Magenta Avenger characer designs... which means my I need my brains operational, which means I need to finally get some sleep. You know that stage where you're so frazzled you can't settle down enough to sleep? That's me right now. Gah.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
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#21
Well, I've got a handful of characters there, based on my Virtue alts. I've been heavily into Skyrim and Bioshock Infinite lately (not to mention Warframe with Terr,) but I'm always available for some creating heroing if there's the opportunity.
There doesn't seem to be as many "Task Force" opportunities in that game, but some of them are a lot of fun. A large group TF might be nice, some day.
In the meantime, I *really* need sleep. I spent the whole night modding someone else's Skyrim mod, to see if I could pull some powers they built into their custom race and redo them as spellbooks that anyone could use. I'm sitting on the mod until the original developer has a chance to see what I did and render a verdict, but I'm really happy with how it turned out...
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.
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#22
My 2 cents is watching my friend play the radiant it really does work just fine for the most part in leveling content because well..Vengeance spam will nuke the living hell out of minions and villains and with the advantage can stun mobs around your main target (assuming they just don't detonate from the attack itself). Your only issue IMO would be unexpected aggro and possibly master/super villains. If your willing to grind Questionite to Zen you can purchase different grav bikes from the C-store, or seeing as I'm not exactly poor in game I can see if I can't scrounge up a bike for ya from the auction house.
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#23
Uh... wow. That's really awesome of you. Maybe I'll just do Danzai White, if there's a Pheonix Rider in the offing... I dunno, I do really like the more colorful armor pattern, and Daisuke without DanPhoenix is like King J-Der without the J Ark, or Volfogg without GunDober and GunGlue - capable enough, but missing major and critical parts of their concept. Maybe if I just come up with a better name and less random-lulz background... and, you know, not start the game by being a sponge on your good nature, since a jet pack is part of that character design.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
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#24
*Waves hand* No worries, no point in having resources if you don't spend it. Anyways if nothing else I'd strongly recommend buying a hideout for whatever account you'd consider a main one, then you'd have access to a small account wide bank that you can store and swap items accross characters. Especially handy with Vehicles as they are bound to account and not character, also good if/when you get a character high enough to participate in the nemesis system and able to buy Heirloom Equipment that you can pass to leveling characters that will adjust to their level.
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#25
I second the hideout suggestion -- not so much for the multi-character utility, which I've barely begun to make use of, but because hideouts are cool, you can get into them from practically everywhere (and thus they make good emergency redoubts), and because they provide their own tailor access (which can be convenient).
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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