Labor Day weekend is past… the time spent watching movies and playing games. The game of choice was still Champions Online, and my main is still far from level cap — sitting at level 32. I’ve taken the time to play two other alts, Archery and Darkness users, as the 30′s content is a bit lacking right now — you can easily be doing level 34 missions at 32, hoping those will be enough to get to 33 without needing much mob grinding. Throw in the changes coming to Telekinesis users in the next patch and… well, it’s best to wait and see. I’m hoping the free full retcon will be around shortly (or at least with the patch) in order to help me plan out the character better. Even with a basic understanding of stats and the skills I’ve still managed to screw things up. It’s perfectly playable and solo’able, but not as efficient or good as it could be. Thankfully my alt experiments are doing much better!

First up is Archery. The character is currently around 11-12 and still very newbish, but I have seen enough to get a feel for the basics of the framework. It revolves around two things: Crits and AoE. The two primary stats for Archery are Dexterity and Intelligence; Dexterity provides crit chance, Intelligence provides shorter cool downs and lower energy costs. To make the most out of these two you’ll need to Talent and Gear for Ego and Endurance/Recovery — I recommend Endurance. With Dex/Ego at respectable levels you’ll be looking at rather nice crits pretty often. Combine that with AoE attacks and you can see lotsa damage popping up all over the screen. The Archery abilities seem to cost a good bit, though it is likely the lack of Endurance right now. To help with the energy costs, Archery users have Quarry — a slotted offensive passive that provides a stack of buffs to reduce the energy cost of abilities. If you’re solo’ing — might want to find something different to use, something that will keep you alive. Grouping, however, can make excellent use of Quarry.

As you can guess, Archery is excellent against packs of henchies, not so much against Master Villains/Super Villains. The Taser Arrow does help some, though, provided it works against them. Not all holds do, so it’s iffy. The best bet I’ve had with strong single mobs is to keep distance with flight and hold them as much as possible, if possible… you won’t have to worry about any of their minions, at least.

Next up is Darkness. This is a Sorcery-esque framework, using dark magics to hold/kill(enemies)/heal(yourself). The suggested stats for this build are Constitution and Endurance, the two stats that effect your maximum status numbers. I find this to be excellent for soloing. This character, like the Archery one, is in the early teens, still a newbie but just big enough to get a feel for the set. What I’ve noticed so far is a relative balance of abilities — this character does not really excel at any particular function, except maybe single target nuking. I went ahead and ranked Shadow Blast, the Tier 0 charged nuke you get at the start, to 3 — maxed it out. The damage, currently, is enough to pretty much one shot any henchie and take out Villains/Master Villains in a few shots. For the energy cost (pretty low), it’s damn good. Add in Shadow Form (offensive passive, slotted) that increases your damage (paranormal and ego), reduces paranormal damage (can be useful, all in the situation) and looks awesome (very awesome) — you’ve got a pretty awesome character.

The point to stress on the character is really the balance in abilities, to me. I’ve got a nice cone effect that deals good damage, a high damage single target nuke, a life drain that damages and heals (with an advantage it seems to have a chance at AoE heals, for some added group effects), an AoE hold that is very nice, a block replacement and passive slotted buff and active buffs… it’s got a bit of everything. If you really want to solo — take this build, or at least try it out.

My darkness character is focusing more on group support right now with the AoE hold (Grasping Shadows). To really make this work well I’ve been getting as much Recovery equipment as possible, going to have to get Talents too, in order to cast it fully at equilibrium. It should be noted that Grasping Shadows’ charging breaks when damaged — casting in combat is not always easy to do. To make up for this impairment is the AoE nature of the hold and that you can damage the targets while they are held — manage a good cast and that group of mobs just became fodder. I have not gotten to use Ebon Rift yet (basically creates a small rift/wormhole in the space some feet away from you, drags mobs to it) so I can’t say the useability of the Rift and Grasping, might work really well.

Offense is the best defense on my character, but with Constitution as a main stat it’s possible to find something else more suitable to your tastes. Increasing Recovery to make better use of Grasping Shadows would also help with other powers (Regeneration, perhaps…). I tend to hold and kill most things, bigger baddies I just try to nuke down as fast as possible. It’s a pretty simple framework to use.

And that’s that — more to come later.

Ever since the launch day patch the boards have had numerous complaints about PFF — or Personal Force Field — and the Force Framework. I’ve decided to give Force a try as I like a good challenge, and so I can try and find the best possible solo build for it — or at least a work-able one. My little lowbie is now level 10, barely getting into her Force powers, and starting to get an idea of what people are talking about. I’m also doing things a bit differently.

The two recommended Super stats for Force users are Endurance and Ego. Endurance is quite useful by itself — providing more maximum Energy and increases your Energy build rate — and in a Force build it’ll increase the health of your PFF. Ego, on the other hand, does not provide much past increasing your PFF’s regen rate… and I’m not even sure what the regen rate is or how much it increases it. Looking at PFF I knew one thing: this is a buffer. It’s an extra pool of health. I have Ego Form on my Telekinesis character; the damage reduction scales with Constitution — I swapped out an upgrade with nearly 30 Constitution for one without any, and the damage reduction dropped 1%. It seems stats effect some powers very poorly, and I think Ego/PFF regen might be the same. I can’t say for sure, as I don’t have any numbers to go by, but from reading people’s complaints — having to wait between fights just to regen — it seems Ego may not be worthwhile. So I went with Constitution as my first Super stat, saving Endurance for the second. I did not choose Endurance first for one reason — the Constitution gave me a bigger increase in effective health then the Endurance did. If your health scales better with Constitution then the PFF’s with Endurance, you’ll be better off getting more Constitution. It’s all in the effective HP’s with PFF.

There is one active defense that works in tandem with PFF — Field Surge. Essentially this is a heal to your shield, should you have it on, or a temporary shield, should you not. The not bit is pretty interesting to me. Should it work properly, and well, Field Surge could be a nice addition to Regeneration/Invulnerability passives. That’s something to think about if PFF just isn’t doing it for you. Still, if you’re going the Regeneration/Invulnerability route — Resurgence would probably be a better option. I’m not going either route, however, because I want to try and stick as close to Force as possible. Anywho, Field Surge works pretty well, but might be a bit buggy at the moment. It’s hard to tell since you don’t have any indication of how your PFF is really doing till you start taking bigger hits to your health.

Since my character is still a lowbie she still has very few powers. All the extra powers I’ve picked up (all two of them) have been defense oriented. There’s something to be said about needing DPS. Looking at the force list, I see a few DPS-type powers on there, but it is pretty slim. Force Bolts and Force Blast are the initial abilities — Bolts is your average weakling energy builder, with the added bonus of possibly knocking back an enemy, and Blast is a pretty average charged nuke that takes most of a Henchman’s health out and has a higher chance of knockback. Looking down the list I see three more damaging attacks — and all are AoE/Cone. Good stuffs. The next three power points I spend are going into those.

What I’ve noticed in fights is the power of the henchmen. These fodder are weak… health-wise, but don’t let that fool you — they can put some DPS out in small numbers. Taking on villains+ with henchmen still alive and kicking is typically foolish — always slaughter the little guys before taking on the big one. To do this, AoEs and Cone abilities are excellent — and that’s what a chunk of the Force damage powers seem to be. A typical Villain-Master Villain fight with added henchmen seems to work in one way: Containment Field the big guy, AoE the henchmen to death, Blast the big guy to death (with blocking and such thrown in as needed). PFF might hold out during the henchmen fight, depending on how many there are and how high your Endurance is, but it will likely fall towards the end. Field Surge will be used during the fight with the big guy, as needed. The wild card here is knockback, and how often it proc’s. Knockback is a major part of Force defense — it interrupts damage. Using your AoE abilities you should be able to knock around a group of henchmen pretty well — killing them while interrupting their damage, prolonging your PFF. This is part of the reason, along with Energy costs (they seem cheap to me), that Force does less damage than other builds — it has some extra utility.

Grouping seems the be the most fitting playstyle for the Force user. Not simply because of Protection Field (used it back in open beta and found it quite handy) but because of the knockback and health buffer. You can get in near the tank and blast mobs back — that’ll take some of the heat off the tank for a bit, enough for a shield or heal to make a difference possibly. Protection Field also gives you energy when being struck so you can use it and all your powers more often, without having to take as much time to build up energy. Then there’s Containment Field, fairly useless when you want to hold something and beat on, but good as crowd control. I use Ego Hold on my Telekinesis character and have had great success with it; while I doubt the hold will last as long, you can damage the mob through it. It might be worthwhile to use Ego Hold, and the animation is a wobbly sphere — so you could think of it as an unstable Containment Field, thus the damage seeping through without resistance. At times it’s not the exact framework the power came from, but how well you can modify its meaning and use to your character concept — don’t gimp yourself if you don’t have to.

I’ll be putting much of this to work over the long weekend, hoping to max out my main as well. I’m confident Force is a very stable and reliable build. But we’ll see. Perhaps some screenies later today.

Yesterday saw the launch of Champions Online, and the previous four days were the early head start. I haven’t posted for a bit for two reasons: playing CO in every free moment, and I was sick. So, I was playing a lot of CO. With the extra playtime I’ve gained quite a few levels — sitting at 28 right now — and had the opportunity to see quite a few things. Like Monster Island and Nemesis creation. Yay. (there is enthusiasm there, really!)

I’ll start off with the Nemesis:

In Champions Online, there comes a time when every superhero grows up. They’ve fought their share of street thugs, mutants and ice zombies — they’re ready for something bigger. In comes their Nemesis. At level 25 players are able to stop by the Millennium City Police Department (it’s not on the map, for directions: it’s north of City Hall and a bit east I think, run around till you see vendor symbols appear on your mini-map) and get a mission to input their Nemesis into the MCPD’s database. This works similarly to character creation, with a few differences: you only select a powerset for the Nemesis to use — no custom frameworks, you choose a minion type — there’s around ten or so choices, a basic powerset for the minions, a personality type for the Nemesis — there’s three choices here — Mastermind (Dr. Destroyer), Savage (Grond), and a comedic-type based on Foxbat.

After crafting your Nemesis you’ll receive the first Nemesis quest, one that will introduce the villain to the game in a wonderfully evil fashion (at least for mine). After this mission you’ll begin to notice the changes that Nemesis bring to the game, like having minions attack you at any time — any where! I’m sure some people will see this as a nuisance, especially when you’re already fighting a group of baddies, but it is quite cool and fun. During these random attacks you’ll occasionally find clues that will open up more Nemesis missions. So far, I’ve gotten two — both took place in the open world. Yup, my Nemesis’ minions were up to nefarious acts right where anyone could see them — including the middle of the atomic wasteland in the desert (sorry to any lowbies that might have been killed by them!). The system really adds to the detail of the world and to help draw you into it. Not only are you solving problems caused by criminals already in the game world, now you have to put a stop to one of your own creation!

To add even more cool stuffs to the Nemesis system, there’s Nemesis vendors! More stuff for you to want and more stuff to work towards.

Monster Island:

At level 28 you’re given a quest — a level 30 quest — to venture to Monster Island. The island is for levels 30+ and has lots of baddies to face — namely robotic/cloned/alien?/dinosaurs, Manimals, Viper, and more. To get there you must first pass an instance which will set up the story for the island. I did this with one other level 28 character and we were able to do it pretty easily. I really want to talk about it… but I think it’ll spoil the fun — just trust me when I say it’s pretty epic. It was a bit buggy, though. After completing the instance, though, you’ll be able to freely access Monster Island through the jet transport.

I can’t say much else about the island as I’m not quite high enough to really tackle it, but I will say that it’s quite large. I really want to see Lemuria too, but I’m not sure when we gain access to that. It may be higher/max levels.

As for anything else… I might have some knowledge to share. Crafting will get it’s own post, so that’ll happen later. For now — gameplay.

There was a recent nerf to defenses yesterday, anyone who keeps up with the game will have heard about it — or heard the complaints (from outer space, it’s said). The game is still quite solo’able — just yesterday I solo’d two even-con quests that were recommended for duos, and I did it quite easily. The solution is simple: build and play smartly.

CO is laid out in a way that easily shows varying degrees of difficulty. You know when a quest is going to be harder than normal. You know what mobs are harder than others. You can see their groups. The only challenge is how you pick them apart. Being primarily Telekinesis I have a strong melee focused DPS/Tanking build. I can do a bit of AoE and cone damage, and I get a decent hold. Then throw in a couple self heals from Telepathy and Supernatural. What I’ve found, and what’s worked for me, is that solo’ing is about diversifying. You want to be able to handle anything thrown at you. You need to play defense, offense, and support — all at the same time. Before the defense nerf you didn’t really have to do much support, you could tank and gank your way through most things, but it’s different now. I recommend getting at least one hold — a single target and an AoE would be great — just to help out on harder missions. Often, the only targets that can’t be held are Super Villains, but most of their minions can — even Master Villains. Make good use of holds and you can quickly turn a fight. Blocking is also very important — even if you’re not the tank, learn how to do it properly. Blocking does not only lower incoming damage, it’ll also block roots and holds. Lastly, pick your opponents. I’ve found it’s best to always take out the smaller guys first — Henchmen usually die quickly, anyway. In some cases though, such as Lancers, you will need to know what your opponents can do and what might hurt you most. Having an enemy that likes to use holds then blast you is a serious threat — take them out quickly (one such opponent that comes to mind is the Ice Shaman in the early Canada zones, they like to freeze you then shatter it — dealing large damage and a knockback). For the numerous smaller targets, having an AoE is very nice — for the stronger single, a strong single attack… Pretty simple.

A diverse character will prove useful to the average solo’er, but remember that it might not be best for groups. You can handle anything, but not exceptionally well. Thankfully it seems Cryptic has added in full retconning! It’ll just cost your characters arms, legs, and torso to do so.

Along with the full retconning, we have the next event and first content patch on the horizon — Blood Moon! There’s a page for it over at the CO site, it’s worth checking out. Zombie PvP and the Celestial powerset are the highlights for me, but I really want to see the battles against the dead heroes from the battle of Detroit too.