During my last three runs of City of Heroes I've always raised my notoriety settings at some point - even if it was only for one mission. This time I didn't even consider it.
After 24 hours Ms. Midnight is level 17, with 73 defeats to her name. That's 2 levels behind my previous slowest levelled, Time Raider (also blueside - no coincidence) and only 4 defeats less than Mistletoe, who was running Praetorian content. In other words, it's not great.
So does this mean that Warshades actually do suck? Well...
There's a couple of factors to take into consideration. I've been running a human form build, which is not recommended for levelling. I did try out the shapeshifting Dark Nova form, but I just wasn't feeling it, and really who would want to feel it when it's a nasty, slimy, tentacled monster...
My lack of affinity for squids notwithstanding, it's hard to deny that there are some issues with Everyone's Least Favourite Archetype. I'm not saying that Warshades were specifically designed to be terrible until at least level 22, but I'm not not saying that either.
I've talked previously about the anaemic damage this AT does, and while I did get access to a power that buffs that damage - Sunless Mire - fairly early on, it's on too long of a cooldown for it to be a consistently effective solution to the problem of an attack chain comprised entirely of minor and moderate damage. It's also situational as hell, since it requires the Warshade to be in melee range of multiple enemies to get the best out of it, and those enemies aren't doing nothing while I'm powering up. Think of it like Build Up, if Build Up took 25% of your health every time you activated it.
I could have topped up my damage with Orbiting Death (aka Orbiting Debt - says it all, really) but damage auras run heavy on end usage and I'm already running no less than 3 defensive toggles. Adding a damage aura on top of those (and Hover) would leave me gasping for end after just about every fight.
My debuffs have been similarly unimpressive - to the point I've wondered at times if they're even functioning. Knockback remains a winner and has been a literal lifesaver on multiple ocassions, but I only have two powers with that effect, and neither do it reliably enough to plan for it. Hope, yes. Plan, no.
Even on default difficulty settings - with bosses enabled - I've had very few fights I'd call easy. I've found myself relying on inspirations to get through clashes with three +1 Council* and every boss fight without exception has been a life or death struggle. Luckily I haven't run into any Elite Bosses.
I've been eating purple inspirations like candy and my comment a few days ago about Warshades starting off with a travel power to cut down on the time it takes to run back from the hospital doesn't seem like a joke anymore.
Oh, and the AT's unique inherent gives zero benefit while soloing. That's par for the course for the HEATs (and VEATs) but it's still ironic given how unpopular Warshades are on teams.
*The Council have the dubious distinction of being the weakest enemy group in the game to go all the way up to level 50. They're the go-to faction for players who want to steamroll through hordes of cannon fodder, and I don't recall every having had this much trouble with them on any prior character.
It's not all bad. The Warshade story is good, and the character isn't uninteresting to play. I can see the potential for Ms. Midnight at higher levels, but this has definitely been the toughest run of the four I've done in this game so far. Mistletoe was more of a slog, but she was going up against the generally harder to handle Praetorian factions, and a lot more bosses.
With all that said I've still enjoyed this run. City of Heroes remains my favourite MMO, and I'm sorely tempted to break one of my rules and do a double bill of this game. I've spent entirely too much of this run of blueside thinking about how much I like redside...
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