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
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