New efforts!

[AlienOne]

Wait, if its an image of issue 24 wouldn't that mean only the characters from the beta server would be attached to it? If there are any attached of course because issue 24 never went live.

That's actually my worry. I never participated in the i24 beta, so I know for sure none of my chars would be there. In fact, unless they took a disk image of the "currently running" servers, not many of the entire community (as a whole) would be there.

[Fanta]

Wait, if its an image of issue 24 wouldn't that mean only the characters from the beta server would be attached to it? If there are any attached of course because issue 24 never went live.

They won't be using a image of I24 since it never went live. It will be I23, and there may be an existing update to I24 that can be used. I think that's possible.

Edit: for clarity.

[Mistress Urd]

The storm summoning powerset was chaos incarnate.  All too often I felt the need to hold back on the set to keep the rest of the party sane, the knockback drove tankers trying to do their job crazy, scrappers having to chase after tornadoes, and even the ranged characters didn't appreciate the reduction in efficiency to their AoEs when groups of mobs were scattered to the winds (as it were).  But when things went bad the Storm set could shine like no other.  For example, when a team vastly overaggro'd three spawns worth of mobs where a single spawn was proving trouble enough, that's when I'd remove all the restraints from my storm and watch the lovely chaos get everyone through the crisis without a scratch.

Its very powerful in the right hands and pretty awful in the wrong ones. Probably the best example of a powerset where differences of player skill are most apparent.

[sindyr]

I *did* play I24 on the beta server - and it was GLORIOUS!!  :D

[MWRuger]

They won't be using a disk image of I24 since it never went live. It will be I23, and there may be an existing update to I24 that can be used. I think that's possible.

Edit: for clarity.

I believe the image includes all servers, including Test Server. How they would push I24 live, I don't know.  The push to may be one of the things they are negotiating. It is also possible that I-24 was pre-loaded on the live servers and just needs the patch to make it live.

[Mistress Urd]

Dark/Rad is nice too. Strong, stacking disorient, and the -Def works wonders for Twilight Grasp.

It was always an amusing trend, the obsession for concentrated healing ignoring everything else. People for some reason remember healing. I got more praise for healing then anything else I'd ever do.

I could be playing Storm wrap whole mobs in snow, crush there -res and -def and the team would roll them. Clean any minor wounds with O2 boost and people would still just thank you for the heals.

There was a funny team redside that I was on. During play a dominator joined and asked who's the healer? Corruptor 1: Nope, Corruptor 2: Nope, MM 1: Nope, MM 2, Nope. Brute: Me me I have aid other!. Stalker: Me me, I have aid other! Dominator: Um ok, *quits*

Some people are just so dense. 

[Fanta]

Thinking about it, if they had a copy of I24, they'd probably be able to apply it to the I23 image once the servers were up and running since it was ready for live. Hence retaining characters. My bad.

Edit: For being a goofball

[Golden Girl]

Plus, we already have all the I24 artwork safely stored on our own computers.

[Husk]

Earth/Storm troller was a beast,could easily lockdown 3 spawns plus with a +hold io in lightning storm and the -res io in earthquake it was Funtime Frankie every time lol.
I personally loved kinetics the most due to the way you threw heals around,ran in for fulcrum shift and basically became the energiser bunny.
My second fav set was Traps,did an 8 man trapper team a few time and we just steamrollered everything.120% defence was hilarious plus 8 poison gas traps on an AV turned it into a rikti monkey haha.8 acid mortars just melted everything and a 60+ trip mine field was carnage to the max.
Thinking about it now I had soo many trollers...ice/cold with perms heat loss,the obligatory fire/kin,grav/kin just for propel with FS plus many others.

God dammit just get the game,accounts and other stuff is nice but the game is all.....

[Mistress Urd]

Really?  Wow, that guy was a classic n00b then, lol.  I remember when I had a guy who had four years worth of veteran badges in the pre-free to play days, and he wholly believed defenders were meant to only ever heal.  I left, as I was a storm summoner.

Yeah, its seems so funny. I had someone hate on my sonic defender because I made fights too short.

[MWRuger]

Thinking about it, if they had a copy of I24, they probably be able apply it to the I23 image once the servers were up and running since it was ready for live. Hence retaining characters. My bad.

Yeah, I didn't say that because it seemed too simple. Hope you are right!!!!!

[downix]

There was a funny team redside that I was on. During play a dominator joined and asked who's the healer? Corruptor 1: Nope, Corruptor 2: Nope, MM 1: Nope, MM 2, Nope. Brute: Me me I have aid other!. Stalker: Me me, I have aid other! Dominator: Um ok, *quits*

Some people are just so dense.

My Dominator would go "who cares? I can heal myself."

Loved Drain Psyche. hehehee.

[okami]

I *did* play I24 on the beta server - and it was GLORIOUS!!  :D

I'm still waiting till it goes live.

[Fanta]

Yeah, I didn't say that because it seemed too simple. Hope you are right!!!!!

I'm a little slow at times, but I get there :D

[The Fifth Horseman]

They won't be using a disk image of I24 since it never went live. It will be I23, and there may be an existing update to I24 that can be used. I think that's possible.

I24 was "live" as far as the beta server goes. It's possible the backp they have found is from there.

[Fanta]

I24 was "live" as far as the beta server goes. It's possible the backp they have found is from there.

But are all of our characters part of it?

[mrultimate]

Earth/Storm troller was a beast,could easily lockdown 3 spawns plus with a +hold io in lightning storm and the -res io in earthquake it was Funtime Frankie every time lol.
I personally loved kinetics the most due to the way you threw heals around,ran in for fulcrum shift and basically became the energiser bunny.
My second fav set was Traps,did an 8 man trapper team a few time and we just steamrollered everything.120% defence was hilarious plus 8 poison gas traps on an AV turned it into a rikti monkey haha.8 acid mortars just melted everything and a 60+ trip mine field was carnage to the max.
Thinking about it now I had soo many trollers...ice/cold with perms heat loss,the obligatory fire/kin,grav/kin just for propel with FS plus many others.

God dammit just get the game,accounts and other stuff is nice but the game is all.....

I loved my Earth/Storm troller................  :'(

[kierthos]

If I play a defender, it will likely be a solo friendly build. How about some suggestions?

What's a good defender set/combo for soloing?

(See? Soliciting build advice. That's how I indicate that I want "help" with the game. Just an FYI.) :D

I played a few different Defenders in my time in CoH.

The first version of Sundown Man (who was later rerolled as a Dual Pistols Blaster)
Dark Miasma/Dark Blast

Personally, I'd say Dark/Dark has a bit more survivability than a lot of Defenders at low levels due to the debuffs in a lot of the powers. However, when Twilight Grasp misses, and you lose that heal, it can suck for a few seconds. (Purples are your friend.) I'd say this is a very solo friendly choice simply because it relies on a lot of debuffs. There were far too many groups in CoH that seemed to want me to heal and heal and don't blast, heal. Why aren't you healing? Drawbacks? Only one buff power (Shadow Fall), but it's worth getting.

Archer's Paradox
Trick Arrow/Archery

Do you hate healing powers? Here you go. I had a ton of fun soloing with Archer's Paradox, but these are choices that have no heals, no buffs... just debuffs and damage. If that's all that you're looking for, that's fine. Just be aware of the limitations.

Brass Reactor
Radiation Emission/Radiation Blast

Honestly, this is my favorite combo. It has buffs, debuffs, a fairly quick heal, and the defense debuff on all the blast powers is very nice. (It does mean that low DEF, high RES targets will be more problematic, but that's what the Evervating Field power is for).

Mind you, if you're doing a lot of soloing, it doesn't hurt, regardless of choice, to pick up the Leadership pool. Defenders get, hands down, the best bonuses of three of the powers in that pool (Maneuvers, Assault, and Tactics) and get the second-best bonus out of Vengeance.

[kierthos]

Funniest ones I've seen by far were the ones asking TA defenders if they could heal (and I've seen at least a couple in Defiant and quite a few more in Freedom). I soooo hoped for devs to update that set with the fabled "Healing Arrow"  ;D

Oooo.... I got those on my Trick Arrow/Archery Defender all the time. Let's see, he's carrying a bow, just launched a glue arrow, a net arrow, an oil slick arrow, and then a fiery arrow.

NOOBZ: HAY, U HEAL?
Me: Do you want me to shoot an arrow into you and see if that heals you?
NOOBZ: WAT? I JUST WNAT 2 KNO IF U HEAL?

/ignore NOOBZ

[Wyrm]

The storm summoning powerset was chaos incarnate.  All too often I felt the need to hold back on the set to keep the rest of the party sane, the knockback drove tankers trying to do their job crazy, scrappers having to chase after tornadoes, and even the ranged characters didn't appreciate the reduction in efficiency to their AoEs when groups of mobs were scattered to the winds (as it were).  But when things went bad the Storm set could shine like no other.  For example, when a team vastly overaggro'd three spawns worth of mobs where a single spawn was proving trouble enough, that's when I'd remove all the restraints from my storm and watch the lovely chaos get everyone through the crisis without a scratch.

One of my favorite additions to the game was the proc from the Overwhelming Force set (the summer blockbuster event, maybe?) that turned KB into KD.  Put that in Tornado and I no longer felt guilty about using the power on something other than AVs.  HUGE QOL change.

I have to agree with the poster down-thread who said there was a ton of variance in how stormies got played.  There were folks who were firmly in the "All Hurricane, all the time" camp, who turned it on like it was a Leadership toggle, and there were folks who used it very situationally (I bound it to my mouse's thumb-button, so I could toggle it on and off easily).  You had really good players in both styles, but boy, there was NOTHING I can remember that was more painful than a bad stormy.  I think I first encountered one in the Atta caves in the Hollows, and I'm not sure the person had any attacks other than Gale at that point.  Worse, I think it may have been a kill-all, and we kept having trolls get stuck in the walls.

There are lots of powersets where low skill is invisible.  Storm isn't one of them.