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I contemplated placing this thread in the Suggestions & Feedback sub-forum, but it's more of a discussion because odds are none of the following will ever be implemented. How to bring balance to the Force Homecoming: Procs: Revert the proc system back to what it was on live, a flat percent chance. On top of that, make damage procs respect AT damage modifiers, and respect damage buffs and damage debuffs. Limit the /ah command to game masters only. Lower the in-game e-mail storage back down to 20 like it was on live. Make non-weapon ranged damage power set nukes crash again. Restrict the Alpha Incarnate ability's +1 level shift to Incarnate content only. Limit the Interface, Judgment, Destiny, Lore, and Hybrid Incarnate abilities to Incarnate content only. Raise the Controller ranged damage modifier to match Defender at 0.65. The hardest part of the list: Re-balance the Mastermind AT so minion and lieutenant henchmen are equal level to the Mastermind PC. Implementing all of the above suggestions would make Homecoming a much more balanced game, and bring more value to all roles and functions in the game, instead of the current damage meta to the exclusion of all else.

I think the Crab helmet has a bit of a manta-esque flair to it. So I use it for my aquatic rogue, Deep Concern (Arsenal/Marine Controller).

The new Blackwing collar might just be my favorite part of an update yet.

Phaser - Energy/Energy Blaster Robot - Elec/Ninja Blaster

The Wifi Waifu, Electric Blast/Radiation Armor Sentinel

This and several other topics lately just feel to me like bored one percenters making wild ideas from atop their ivory towers. "The economy bores me. Raise prices!" "x4/8 content no longer challenges me. Raise difficulty!" "I never use this part of the game. Why does it still exist?"

Unfucking the economy is objectively the best thing HC ever did (besides bringing the game back in general).

I am always leery of "No Politics or Religion" calls... for a very simple reason. I am transgender. That is not a political position, it's simply a bone hard fact of my existence. I do not cease to be transgender when I log onto City of Heroes. But depending on what the current major bigoted push is within a political space, my existence -becomes- political. And talking about my experiences or life or perspectives becomes 'political' and I can swiftly be silenced. I've had this happen in supergroups and guilds across multiple games, too. As soon as something 'becomes political' it becomes taboo to discuss, even if it's just lived experiences. Because everything is, by the broad definition, political, anything can become a politically charged topic out of nowhere. Because when people call out 'Politics' they mostly just mean whatever their government is shouting about on a given day. That's not even getting into the fact that we're playing a game in a "Modern America" with it's own sociopolitical structures, specific call outs to UN peacekeeping forces, a private army invading a sovereign nation, cops going rogue and trying to kill superheroes to steal medical equipment for the populace, and more. Meanwhile calls to silence discussion of religion are similarly ham-handed in most cases. After all, Statesman and Emperor Cole both have the literal power of Zeus and regardless of how debatable the canonicity of the Top Cow comics are, Prometheus is hanging around the End of Time with Mender Silos. Now and again you'll deal with Stheno or the Dagger of Ereshkigal or whatever other religious artifact a given tip or radio mish requires. And then you've got the various players playing 'Incarnations' of ancient gods or their children or their chosen... People of various religions and ancient traditions get to watch their religious beliefs get chopped up into easily digestible bites but it's okay because -their- beliefs are on mythological beings while the Abrahamic faiths are based on 'real' god. It's a whole thing. It often smacks of trying to silence minorities and always makes me real uncomfortable.

The Smoldering Blackhound, Stone Melee/Fiery Aura Stalker

Currently fond of The Queen Regent, thugs/traps MM.

In the same way "dam" is a dirty word to a five year old. People with small, underdeveloped brains and limited real world experience don't like it. They will complain about knockback on teams that are steamrolling with zero deaths. It's reflexive. It's not based on anything. They might have some anecdote or something about a bad player and mistakenly assign blame to the powerset. Knockback complainers are like Karens. They're probably playing weak characters. They have poor social skills and they aren't very self aware. Ignore them. Play inspired.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but here we go. Influence isn’t just some pile of Paragon Pesos you can slide across the table like you’re tipping the bartender at Pocket D. Influence is earned. It’s the lifeblood of your heroic reputation — the nod of respect from the shopkeep when you stroll in wearing a cape still smoldering from yesterday’s Hami raid. When you “buy” an enhancement from a vendor, you’re not really buying it. You think the guy at Cooke’s Electronics is swiping your debit card? Please. He’s giving it to you because your influence says you deserve it. Just like a diner might comp a police officer’s meal — except instead of free coffee, it’s a level 35 SO that lets you melt Clockwork like butter. Influence is personal. You have to keep earning it with good deeds, daring rescues, and the occasional giant monster smackdown. Stop doing the work, and your influence fades. Hit zero, and you’ve got no stroke, no pull — Serge at Icon won’t even let you try on that new cape. “Sorry, champ, we save the good stuff for the people actually saving lives.” Now imagine you could trade influence. That’s like your sidekick‑wannabe walking into Wentworth’s, pointing at a bin of D‑Sync Provocation IOs, and saying, “Don’t worry, I know Super Bob. Load me up.” You try walking out that door and see how fast the PPD drones drop from the sky to zap you for shoplifting. Influence trading doesn’t make sense in lore, and it never has. You can’t hand someone your reputation. You can’t say, “Here, take half of my street cred.” That’s not how trust works in Paragon City… or anywhere else. So let’s keep it pure. Let’s keep it earned. And if you want more influence? Do what every real hero does: get out there, save some lives, punch some Freakshow in the face, and let your legend grow. Or — you know — work that auction house like an ebil marketeer.

Quickshaft, archery/TA blaster

Tried this idea but it never seemed to work out. With the most recent Electric control buffs though and the blackwing neck piece, seemed like a good time to try again. Power-Point, an Elec/Thorns dom.

Ms. Mystery, DP/Nin blaster

Please stop moving the goalposts for those of us who don't run as fast as you (a.k.a. still work for a living and have ever so much less time to play that we'd like, and are also blessed with altaholism). By the time I figure out how something works and start feeling like I'm catching up, well, I'm not, for reasons. My wife who loves this game intensely but gets to play even less than I thinks I'm a genius, because I help her out with basic tips and sometimes try to explain high level stuff like enhancement set bonuses. Yes, that was supposed to be ridiculous. There are a lot of assumptions being made most of the time about what level the majority of players are playing at, how much inf they have, etc. I'm not saying the assumptions are right or wrong, just pointing out that they are assumptions. Back to my blanket fort.

This is a semi-serious question, curious if anyone has thoughts or maybe a quick plusses and minuses. Making things scarcer likely wouldn't work well and could just increase farming. Is there a flip-side to @Yomo Kimyata's question on making all things free? It's easy to make inf, maybe too easy.. which makes things dirt cheap for many. Is there really any point to earning more once we can buy everything we want instantly for dozens of characters? The expectation these days seems to be leveling to 50 in a handful of hours (maximizing 2xp, patrol xp, special xp tuned missions) and then getting a complete build immediately while starting to build out incarnates. If this is way off, I'd be happy to hear it. The downside where players are self limiting infamy/influence gain is simply ignored. Maybe it's easy to ignore because $$ is so easy to get. Maybe there's a different reason. Double XP Booster (1 Hour) This will immediately grant the player a 100% boost to XP gain. While this boost is active, Influence gain will be reduced by 100%. You may purchase up to 8 hours. Soo... let's see where this ends up. credit: @Yomo Kimyata for the original topic this is piggybacking

Over time as I use Inner Inspiration or get inspiration drops, I like to collect them in a pattern like this. Starts out as small, goes to medium, then large ones as I find them. Makes it easy to quickly use the inspiration I need in the moment. 🟩🟪🟦🟧⏹️ 🟩🟪🟦🟧⏹️ 🟩🟪🟦🟧⏹️ 🟩🟪🟦🟧⏹️ 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣ It's like a game within a game for me. So does anyone else do something like this? 😆

Failry generic looking but I like the chest detail combo Hard Attack, either stone/elec or elec/stone stalker, haven't decided which combo

I swear I'm finally happy with this!

Any changes now, would be a massive boost to people who already have tons of resources, and massive screw job to anyone new. So. Being mindful of that, I think the only way to make content truly scarce / rare, AND make it fair, is to forcibly reset all characters to lvl 1, remove all enhancements from all existing characters, remove all influence from all characters, remove all items and influence from all emails, and prevent AE from being a source of influence or drops at all. .... and then, when we no longer have any players whatsoever, there will be a fresh, pristine economy, glistening like white snow in the morning. /sarc, in case you missed it.

Homecoming have shown themselves such listeners that their best illustration may an image of a deaf man with a hearing horn in his ear, plugged, so at this point any game suggestions and discussions are mostly for "Here, people, if you ever set out to make a MMOG of your own, these are the pitfalls to avoid!" One of the mechanics these prospective designers should be wary of are yes-no, works-doesn't work, predictable effects such as fear, sleep, knockup and all the rest in CoH. The problem with their implementation is that they are completely binary: they either work against the player or a mob or they do not. There is no element of chance involved for the better or for the worse. If my character has a 2.0-magnitude protection against knock effects and somebody fires a shotgun at him, which probably does a 0.67, the shotgun never performs and the fight turns dull and boring. If it is a higher level enemy with a bigger shotgun that goes over 2.0, the knocking always works, the fight turns dull and boring again, because the player inevitably crashes on his ass unless he has pre-stocked on Break Free etc., AND it gets hard. Either way it is no fun. A CoH character's early life is therefore divided in two parts: before he gets some kind of status protection (and most sets offer a range) and after. Affected/not affected. Worry/Ignore for the rest of the game. Only much higher-level enemies and bosses have some chance of going over these resistances. For their part, players ALWAYS succeed with their knocks, sleep and so on, except with the weakest versions. In that upcoming title, City of Heroes 2, they should put effect magnitude on a random roll: a little below average, a little above. Or perhaps not a little but a lot, only uncommonly. Probably not below 0.67, that would make any effect useless, but if the shotgun sometimes went over 2.0, that could be more exciting. The exact range would have to be tested, but the goal is a situation where enemies sometimes resist tried-and-true (and boring) tactics, surprise the player in return and the player may hope to win by trying his subpar status attacks on more powerful enemies.

I think you deserve props for coming up with one of possibly the worst possible solutions to stamp onto a game where part of the incentive is trying fun new combinations of powers.

Doctor Warlock, Dark/Elec Defender

More than any other mob in the game: The one guy tucked behind a rock somewhere on a defeat all Oranbega map.

This consensus does not exist. Proc nerfs are a solution in search of a problem. Fun fact, prior to I24 recharge wasn't a factor at all in PPM calculations, and powers just used their base recharge time. The initially proposed changes as part of I24 were going to factor in global recharge in addition to slotted recharge, but a number of people wisely pointed out this meant some external buffs would actually make your character less effective, so they ended up going with the "modified recharge time" formula in use today.

Astrolabe Luminous Blast/Luminous Aura Peacebringer

Terrible idea. Let's not go back to the idiocy that was the Live Market.

Well CoH may indeed be a progression based pastime but as a player for most of the Live life of the game I was in a position that because the crafted enhancements were just so riduculously expensive to craft, my game progression was in reality NIL. The game we have now is just so much a better experience for us casual and mostly solo players. I have an SG (because it is free to build) and use it to travel to all corners of our world. I can use the inf I earn to craft set IO’s and feel much more ownership of our game, I want to log in. I have an alt that can join any part of the content and not feel as if I have been given a pity spot. It bothers me not a jot that we have multi billionaires because now I know I can achieve an alt to stand equally with their alt for the content we would be sharing. I could never do that on Live. I was so pleased we were all given a second chance to enjoy this world but would I still be here if it was a mirror of Live, hand on heart, no. PS edit to add….the suggestion to go play on Beta is just the same as Lives version of a pity spot! You poor boys get off of our lawn…

Been a while since I posted. Got several new characters (alt-itis, you know), but this one I just made has what I think is the most standout costume of the lot. I admit, the leftmost image has been run through AI, so to be honest, here is the original:

Sol Ring, My Psionic/Fire Tank. I wanted to give them a kind of Ziggy Stardust vibe and I may have listened to more than a little "Starman" as Ievelled to 50.

Short version: Yes; it's still hated by a large portion (if not the vast majority) of the playerbase. Longer version: And it's also apparently loved by an extremely passionate minority of the playerbase. (Some of them even believe they're "helping" - in much the same manner that a 2 year old with a tub of red paint might make surprise contributions to your home decor...) Even adding an option (via Null or a Special IO) to globally make KnockBACK into KnockDOWN keeps getting vetoed.

My current main, "Eeleanor", in her various outfits:

Savage Randy

With thanks to @Lunar Ronin for suggesting an alternative to direct uploading, (known issue apparently), I present "Un-Sanctioned":

But . . . you're TheMoneyMaker. You make the money.

What does this mean for the Wiki and you fine folks? Nothing really... Every month folks make sure there is enough to keep the lights on. And assuming that doesn't change, then the wiki will stay up. It does however mean, that since I'll (hopefully) be getting a new job at some point soon, I likely won't have as much time available to fix things. My current job was WFH, and it's REALLY unlikely I'll get lucky and fall into another one of those. I.. don't know what I really intended to say here... Thank you all, for everything you do. Every one of you have made the wiki a better place for everyone to learn from. I'm glad I'm able to help in giving that a place to be. Thank you.

I've seen posts about blocking white salvage drops from the P2W vendor. Posts about an option to mass-sell white salvage. These are cowardly half-measures. Eliminate white salvage. Just get rid of it. Remove it all from the game. What will we lose? The price of individual white salvage components is negligible. It ONLY serves to inhibit the player, making us scrounge a piece of it for crafting. It's not hard to get, it's just annoying to get, and annoying to dispose of. Sometimes, creating a work of art requires the commitment to throwing part of it away if it doesn't work. White salvage doesn't work.

If you need something guarded and can't afford any lapses for silly little things like sleep, meal, or bathroom breaks, contact your local wizard and request a few "Volt Golems":

OK. It's time to Throw The Cat Amongst The Pigeons. Like most of us, I've played all the ATs. A LOT. And I like to think that I have a fairly solid grasp of CoX gameplay and most of its complex underlying mechanics (including those pesky IOs). But there are some RATHER GLARING (to me anyway) balance issues and performance problems and even a few sheer "WTF that's utterly overpowered/pointless!" things that spring to mind whenever I consider each AT and how its Inherent and its available ATOs improve (or clash with) that AT's typical role and/or playstyle. So I'm going to list what *I* think the state of each AT is, currently, and what *I* think could/should be done to improve matters. ... But before I get into it: (i) I realise a lot of people might disagree with some/most/all of my thoughts here; however I suspect that at least certain bits of what I highlight below may get a few people nodding... and I think that having a discussion about overall AT balance that doesn't focus on one particular aspect (like Blaster Nukes) or one particular powerset (like Super Strength) might be beneficial. This is more of an "Invitation for discussion and/or telling @Maelwys how wrong he is"; hence my putting it here in General instead of in the Suggestions subforum. (ii) I appreciate that some powersets could really do with being rebalanced (like Kinetic Melee) and/or are better on one AT than others (like Staff Melee). That's a discussion for another thread. (iii) ... Now, with that out of the way; here comes the flame-fodder: - [BLASTER] - Inherent: Defiance (Short-duration stacking damage buff for every power activated; T1/T2 attack from the primary and T1 attack from the secondary can be used whilst mezzed) ATO1: Blaster's Wrath (PPM damage proc) ATO2: Defiant Barrage (PPM stackable low-mag mez protection) Summary: IMO this AT is in a good place. The Inherent and ATOs notably raise its damage output and also help to reduce the impact of hostile CC effects without completely negating those effects. The ATO2 is "skippable" at endgame (due to Clarion Destiny) but otherwise can be particularly useful if slotted into one of the T1/T2 powers, so that they can be triggered whilst the Blaster is mezzed... however it only grants Mag1 protection per stack and the stacks expire fairly quickly. Also since the T1/T2 powers have a fast base recharge time, lower-PPM procs have a very low likelihood of activating in them. Recommendations: Increase the duration of each stack of the ATO2 proc (from ~10s to ~20s) and/or substantially raise its PPM chance. - [CONTROLLER] - Inherent: Containment (deal double-damage to enemies that are held/stunned/immobilized/feared; or that have been slept within the last 3 seconds) ATO1: Will of the Controller (PPM damage proc) ATO2: Overpowering Essence (PPM chance to summon a very short-duration pet with a PBAoE damage aura) Summary: IMO this AT has gotten substantially better recently (after i28p2's changes to allow Fear and Sleep effects to set up Containment) but their ATO2 is bad. Just like Dominator's "Fiery Orb" ATO2; the Controller ATO2's "Energy Font" pet spawns at your location (not your target's), has a slow movement speed and is extremely fragile. Therefore unless you're already within melee range of multiple foes it can take several seconds (of its 20s maximum duration) to actually start dealing any damage and it is very prone to getting one-shot. Recommendations: Tweak the ATO2 "Energy Font" pet to be immune to damage ("untouchable") and increase its movement speed. - [DEFENDER] - Inherent: Vigilance (30% Damage buff when solo, reduces by 10% per teammate. Endurance Cost Reduction when teammate HP bars are low) ATO1: Defender's Bastion (PPM PBAoE Heal) ATO2: Vigilant Assault (PPM PBAoE Absorb) Summary: The ATOs both add a useful non-damage-oriented effect; although their ATO1 is slightly overshadowed by the Corruptor ATO2 (which also grants some +Endurance in addition to +Health). Vigilance is a useful inherent whilst solo; however its effect whilst teamed is downright pathetic - essentially when teamed with at least 3 people it has no appreciable benefit unless the team is constantly sitting with less-than-full HP bars. Recommendations: Add +Recovery/Endurance to Defender's Bastion. Rework Vigilance's effect to let Defenders keep a little more of their current damage buff on medium-sized teams; and on larger teams have the endurance always apply instead of being HP-bar dependant (as the current implementation rewards Defenders that reactively heal and punishes those that preemptively buff). My suggestion would be to leave the solo damage buff at +30%; then for each teammate reduce that damage buff by 5% whilst adding a flat 10% Endurance Cost Reduction... capping out at 0% damage and +60% Endurance Cost Reduction on a full team. - [SCRAPPER] - Inherent: Critical Hit (5% chance to deal extra damage vs a Minion/Underling; 10% chance vs anything else. This is usually but not always double the attack's base damage; and unlike Stalkers there is no additional penalty for AoEs) ATO1: Scrapper's Strike (Global Critical Hit rate buff) ATO2: Critical Strikes (PPM chance to add +50% Critical Hit rate for a short duration) Summary: Scrapper damage is "spikey" by design. If the dice fall in your favour then you can get a constant string of critical hits; and the ATOs help make this more likely. However their ATO2 proc is very likely the most complicated thing in the game to "optimize". The buff window is short but doesn't cancel after the first hit; so a min-maxed Scrapper has to work out how to make that buff window appear frequently and also how to cram as many high-damage, low-activation time attacks into that window as possible. Animation Time Before Effect values; Arcanatime roundups; which attacks gain full benefit from Critical hits and which don't (including 'additional damage' combo effects and DoTs). It very much rewards detailed knowledge of the game mechanics and basic math skills; but unfortunately it means that the performance disparity between an "optimized" and an "unoptimized" Scrapper is like night and day. Recommendations: Make the ATO2 proc effect far less complicated; without overly reducing the AT's achievable average damage. My suggestion would be to have the ATO2 buff simply cancel after the first hit; and then increase the Scrapper inherent BASE Critical Hit chance by a small amount (e.g. 5%) to compensate. The goal here is to lower the current drastic performance disparity between an endgame Scrapper being piloted by a regular Scrapperlocking button masher; and that same Scrapper being piloted by someone with OCD and a spreadsheet. - [TANKER] - Inherent: Gauntlet (AoE Taunt effect when attacking targets. AoEs have a larger radius and can hit additional targets) ATO1: Might of the Tanker (PPM stackable Damage Resistance buff) ATO2: Gauntleted Fist (PPM Absorb) Summary: The Tanker ATOs are, IMO, both in a good place even though neither ATO increases Tanker damage output. The ATO1 proc in particular is very effective. However Gauntlet is IMO a bit lacking. The recent changes in i28p2 drastically decreased Tanker AoE damage potential - Cones are no longer wider/longer and cannot hit more targets; AoEs are still a bit wider and can hit more targets but in practice the overall damage output of a Tanker vs 16 targets is now less than a Brute hitting 10 targets. The Developers have stated an intention for the Tankers to be "AoE Specialists" amongst the melee ATs but currently they deal less AoE damage than the others; so the most they're able to do is tag a few extra enemies with a "Taunt" effect. Recommendations: Recent i28p2 adjustments have reduced Tanker AoE damage without notably reducing their Single Target damage. However the Devs have stated a design intent that Tankers should be "AoE specialists among the melee ATs". If "AoE specialists" is intended to refer to "damage output" then IMO their 'overcap' damage reduction should be lowered a bit (so that damage on additional targets is reduced by at most -50% instead of -66%) in order that a Tanker will deal a little bit more damage vs 16 targets than a Brute does vs 10 targets. If it is instead intended to refer to "aggro control" then IMO there should be an increase to the duration of Gauntlet's AoE Taunt effect and/or the Tanker aggro cap (say ~24 instead of 17) in order to allow Tankers to quickly claim aggro over a Brute and/or maintain aggro control on more enemies. In addition; I would also suggest taking another look at Tanker Cone attacks. A number of Tanker powersets have multiple Cones and fewer pure AoEs - so IMO allowing cones to be widened by the Tanker Gauntlet once more (even if it's just "up to a certain arc size"; like ~120-180 degrees) and keeping their base damage the same as it is currently may make sense (perhaps their target cap could also be increased and appropriate "overcap" damage reductions introduced as well; but even just having Cones gain any benefit at all from the "Tankers are AoE specialists" notion would IMO be appreciated here!). Finally... IMO there is also an issue with Brutes and Tankers both currently occupying (and constantly clashing with each other over) the same "niche" on teams, which I'll cover in the Brute section below. - [BRUTE] - Inherent: Fury (stacking damage buff; effectively maxes out at roughly 85 Fury which is a +170% damage buff. Single Target Taunt effect when attacking targets) ATO1: Brute's Fury (PPM increased Fury generation) ATO2: Unrelenting Fury (PPM stackable increased Regeneration and Recovery for a short duration) Summary: The Brute Inherent is in a good place. However both their ATOs are total rubbish and a complete waste of an enhancement slot - chasing the Set Bonuses is IMO the only reason to use either of them. Fury generation is already fast and caps out at ~85 regardless of the ATO1 proc; and the +regeneration/recovery granted by the ATO2 proc when the stacks are maxed out provides less benefit than a Panacea Proc in Health. In practice Brutes are one of the "best" ATs whilst levelling up; especially whilst the player is short of enhancement slots, because Fury reduces the need to prioritise slotting their attacks for damage aspect. However after IOs they become overtaken by Scrappers in terms of damage output (and DRASTICALLY overtaken in the case of an optimized ATO2-using Scrapper). Survivabilitywise Brutes sit in a "sweet spot" between a Scrapper and a Tanker. Due to their inherent Taunt effect they are also almost as good as a Tanker at aggro control; and currently due to Tanker's recently nerfed AoE damage output (see: i28p2) they have begun to become the most popular endgame Tanking AT. Unfortunately a lack of clear Developer Intent makes it very tricky to propose a solid balance for Tankers, Scrappers and Brutes. In practice; providing that aggro control is sufficient, whichever of these three ATs can inflict the most damage is always going to be the optimal choice for filling an endgame Tanking role. (Disclaimer: whilst all Scrappers have access to "Confront" and some have Taunt Auras... traditionally it is very unusual in CoX for a Scrapper to fulfil a team "Main Tank" role. At most they might situationally hold the aggro of an AV or "off tank". However I am aware of a few cases, including in 4-star "hard mode" runs, where a Scrapper Tank is now seen as the preferred option because they can contribute substantially more on-demand damage than a Brute whilst maintaining a sufficient level of aggro control for that particular scenario!) IMO Brutes need a Niche on a team that doesn't simply boil down to "keeping aggro whilst dealing damage". Because sometimes the damage a Brute deals will be higher than a Tanker; and sometimes it'll be the other way around (depending on whether Tankers have been buffed or not recently!). CoX having two melee ATs that are effectively both continually competing for exactly the same niche on a team is less than ideal. Tankers having better Survivability than Brutes is mostly irrelevant on mature teams; so unfortunately that's often a non-factor. Recommendations: Overhaul both Brute ATOs to allow each to provide a mechanically worthwhile boost. And give Brutes a better niche on teams so that Brutes and Tankers are not always competing over the same role of "Survivable Aggro Magnet that deals the most raw damage". I've suggested a few ideas for this niche separation previously - letting Tankers hold the attention of more mobs (via an increased aggro cap); giving Brutes an ATO which grants a PBAoE damage buff based on their current Fury; etc. however the exact shape/form it might take doesn't overly matter. The main thing IMO is that something definitely needs to stop the current situation where as soon as Brute or Tanker damage overtakes the other (due to AT buffs or nerfs) that AT becomes "always the best choice" on teams and the other AT effectively gets dustbinned. - [CORRUPTOR] - Inherent: Scourge (scaling chance to inflict double damage once the target's current HP drops below 50%) ATO1: Malice of the Corruptor (PPM damage proc) ATO2: Scourging Blast (PPM PBAoE Heal and Endurance) Summary: IMO the Corruptor ATOs are in a good place; and Scourge can potentially be a very powerful inherent. However it often drastically favours fast-cycling lower-damage-per-hit powers (especially "Rains", which perform multiple "checks" of the target's current HP over the course of their duration and so begin benefitting from Scourge as soon as it drops below the 50% threshold) over single-hit-high-damage powers like traditional AoEs and Nukes (which only check the target's HP once; and in practice typically trigger before the target has taken any noteworthy damage at all). This means specific powersets (Ice Blast, Fire Blast, Water Blast) tend to benefit from Scourge more than others. Recommendations: Realistically Corruptors are one of the most powerful classes so I'd be loathe to buff them; but PERHAPS it'd make sense to alter the Scourge chances for non-rain AoEs so that they gain a small % chance to inflict Scourge regardless of the target's current HP; or maybe even scale it based on the number of teammates. In order that Ice Blast Corruptors aren't always the automatic Gold Medalists. - [DOMINATOR] - Inherent: Domination (long recharge Clicky buff that refills your endurance bar, provides mez protection and grants additional CC effects for 90s, and a ToHit buff for 15s) ATO1: Ascendency of the Dominator (PPM stackable Damage Buff) ATO2: Dominating Grasp (PPM chance to summon a very short-duration pet with a PBAoE damage aura) Summary: IMO this AT's inherent is amazingly good (it's a very rare Dominator player who doesn't strive for enough Global Recharge to make Domination permanent) and their ATO1 is decent (if a bit attack chain dependant); however their ATO2 is very bad. Just like the Controller's "Energy Font" ATO2; the Dominator ATO2 "Fiery Orb" pet spawns at your location (not your target's), has a slow movement speed and is extremely fragile. Therefore unless you're already within melee range of multiple foes it can take several seconds (of its 20s maximum duration) to actually start dealing any damage and it is very prone to getting one-shot. Recommendations: Tweak the ATO2 "Fiery Orb" pet to be immune to damage ("untouchable") and increase its movement speed. - [MASTERMIND] - Inherent: Supremacy (PBAoE Damage and ToHit buff for Henchmen. Mastermind Henchmen can be issued orders and when in "Defensive Follow" or "Defensive GoTo" mode, a portion of any damage inflicted on their master will be redirected to each henchman) ATO1: Command of the Mastermind (Global PBAoE buff to "AoE" Defense for henchmen) ATO2: Mark of Supremacy (Global PBAoE buff to Damage Resistance and regeneration rate for henchmen) Summary: IMO this AT is in a very, very good place. Whilst I personally do not like taking the ATO1 global (I prefer focusing on all positional defences rather than just one) it definitely has a place on many builds. The only "generic" issue I have is that the T1 and T2 pets spawning at lower-levels compared to the MM themselves means that the Purple Patch hits them very hard whenever you're fighting enemies higher than +3 to you. Recommendations: Allow the T1 and T2 henchmen to spawn at even-level to the MM themselves in all content. The base damage of their powers could be reduced by ~20% and ~10% to compensate if required, but realistically these pets already spawn at even-level to the MM in Incarnate content, so it's likely that just leaving their damage scalars as-is will not overly upset things. (Some specific Primary powersets could also do with a balance pass; but that's beyond the scope of this thread!) - [STALKER] - Inherent: Assassination (When "hidden" - Critical Strike 100% activation for Single target attacks and 50% for most Cones and AoEs. When NOT hidden; 10% base Critical rate plus 3% for each party member. Primary powerset attacks also grant "Assassin Focus" stacks which drastically increase the Critical hit rate of Assassin's Strike; becoming guaranteed with 3 stacks) ATO1: Stalker's Guile (PPM chance to enter "hidden" state. Can activate at most once every 10 seconds) ATO2: Assassin's Mark (Global that gives most attacks a chance to make the "Build Up" power recharge) Summary: Stalkers are IMO in a rather good place. Their Assassination inherent looks complex but in practice works well to boost their damage beyond the first whack from a hidden state (especially whilst teamed). Their critical chance is reduced for AoEs and Stalkers in general also have less AoE abilities and Cones available to them; so they tend to be better at Single Target Damage - IMO combined with the Stealth and Placate mechanics it makes their playstyle sufficiently unique that Scrappers and Stalkers are both valuable to a team without always stepping on each other's toes. Their ATO2 is powerful and does not require any complex calculations or build tweaks. Their ATO1 is powerful but has an annoying lockout period that means you really need to plan the duration of your attack chain cycle to get the most out of it. Recommendations: Lose the 10s lockout period on the ATO1 proc; in order to reduce the need for a "perfect" attack chain cycle. - [SENTINEL] - Inherent: Opportunity (Slight resistance to ToHit and Perception debuffs. Bar builds up over time and when >50% full "Vulnerability" can be triggered, which inflicts a large damage resistance debuff, defense debuff, status effect resistance debuff and stealth debuff for 15s) ATO1: Sentinel's Ward (PPM Absorb) ATO2: Opportunity Strikes (PPM increased Opportunity generation) Summary: Sentinels have come a long way since their original implementation; and their inherent is now decent; but their ATOs are not. Recommendations: Change the ATO1 to work off your current "maximum HP" rather than be a flat value; and raise its activation chance (the Tanker ATO2 is very similar but uses MaxHP and is a substantially higher PPM). The ATO2 should either have its increased Opportunity generation value drastically raised or become a Global (can be triggered by all attacks) rather than a PPM (can be triggered only by the attack it's slotted in) so that is is less dependant on specific power placement and/or attack chain cycles. - [PEACEBRINGER / WARSHADE] - Inherent: Cosmic Balance/Dark Sustenance (Buffs to Damage, Damage Resistance, CC protection and recharge debuff resistance based on the Archetypes of their teammates) ATO1: Kheldian's Grace (Global that applies a short-duration buff to damage when in Nova Form, damage resistance when in Human Form; and MaxHP when in Dwarf Form) ATO2: Essence Transfer (Global that grants most attacks a flat 18% chance to heal you) Summary: Kheldians are broken. There is a well-known exploit (which tends to be referred to as "Changeling") that lets them drop out of one form into another and trigger a new attack before the previous attack finishes animating. However WITHOUT leveraging that exploit; their damage output can IMO be generously described as "mediocre". Many players do not enjoy taking all (or even any) of the additional non-human forms; and so will not gain the full benefit from their ATO1. The Cosmic Balance/Dark Sustenance inherents can be powerful but unfortunately both require a specific (and different!) team composition to really shine. Recommendations: Rework Cosmic Balance/Dark Sustenance so that it is less dependent (or not at all dependent) on specific team compositions. Prevent the "Changeling" exploit (my suggestion would be to prevent shifting out and then back into the same form immediately - a lockout period of ~5 seconds before being able to reuse the same form should do it!) whilst at the same time adjusting the AT's damage scalars upwards in all forms (particularly Human) and reviewing some of the animation times (e.g. Incandescent Strike; which is effectively Total Focus with a 24% longer cast time) - these ATs should IMO cap out at very roughly the same average damage ballpark as a Brute. Allow Epic and Patron Pools. Amend the ATO1 so that if Dwarf Form and/or Nova form are not taken then a smaller bonus is granted to the other form(s). - [ARACHNOS SOLDIER / WIDOW] - Inherent: Conditioning (Regeneration and Recovery bonus - this is baked into the AT's base attributes and it's a flat +5% to each.) ATO1: Dominion of Arachnos (PPM Terrorize and Damage debuff) ATO2: Spider's Bite (Global that grants most attacks a flat 12% chance for additional Toxic damage) Summary: VEATs are very powerful; particularly since the changes to Fortuna and Night Widow Lv1 powers in i27p7. Whilst their Inherents aren't mechanically striking; they do slightly increase overall sustainability (VEATs tend to gobble endurance) and their various specialization trees each provide Lv1 Auto abilities that are effectively more powerful inherents ('Fate Sealed', 'Pain Tolerance' and the Bane and Wolf spider 'Armor Upgrades'). Their ATO2 is EXTREMELY good. The ATO1 provides a useful damage debuff; although the Terrorize only affects minions. Recommendations: IMO not much is needed here. Perhaps tweak the ATO1 proc so that it effects Lieutenants out of the box (Mag3 rather than Mag2) or so that it can stack with itself rather than overwriting. And MAYBE buff the "Conditioning" inherent slightly so that it provides a larger boost to Regeneration/Recovery (+10% base rather than +5%; for example). I would also quite like to see them being given access to Epic Pools - having only Patron Pools might be thematic; but more choice is always good. Really though the main thing is that I think they need some kind of Recovery/Endurance buff to be available to them (likely via their Inherent or Epic Pools) in order that optimized VEATs (especially Widows!) don't need to rely so hard on Ageless Destiny. "Crabberminds" not having control over their pets is IMO a feature, not a problem! (Heh-heh-heh-hee-hee-hee-heh-heh-heh-heh...)

Below is a rough idea I had for a Clones power set for Masterminds, the best part is no need to create new meshes or textures! Clones: Phantom Jab* (causes a phantom of yourself to appear in front of and attack the target once then disappear) Damage: Light Recharge: Very Fast Doppelgangers** (3 minion/ pet power. Unempowered clones deliver punches to target) Phantom Uppercut* (causes a phantom of yourself to appear in front of and attack the target once then disappear) Damage: Moderate Recharge: Fast Empower Clones*** (Enhance all permanent clones with Fire, Ice, Electric, Energy, Dark, or Radiation attacks or a random mix, please note once a summoned clone is enhanced their element cannot be Switched) Recharge: Fast Phantom Barrage* (three phantoms surround the target punching and kicking it) Damage: Heavy Recharge: Slow Copies** (2 minion/ Pet power. Unempowered clones have Jabs and Punches) Phantom Army* (Works like current illusion set phantom army except visually you don't have the "classic" phantom army look just the mirror self ones) Perfect Clone** (Single minion/ pet power Unempowered clone physically assaults enemy with Jabs, Punches and right/left hooks) Fortify Clones (Gives clones first two defensive abilities that align with their element; Unempowered clones get super reflexes) Recharge: Moderate *Phantom abilities are not effected by Empower Clones or Fortify Clones ** Unenhanced Clones use the basic punch ability and Street Justice attacks from the First three levels: Initial Strike - All three Clone types Heavy Blow - Copies & Perfect Clone Sweeping Cross - Perfect Clone only *** The three street justice attacks are replaced with same tier melee attacks of the element of the Clone

Wish granted.

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I am sure there are a few people who like me have been subject to harassment or griefing in game, we submit a ticket with plenty of proof, we get the corporate reply of "We are opening an investigation", the ticket gets moved to completed. Then we still see the person in game harassing us and griefing our content, leaving us wondering if the GMs gave them a warning, didn't find any wrong doing, or if they even did anything at all. And without knowing anything about what was done leaves us wondering if it's even worth reporting it again or just having to deal with it, however if we get a brief update of "A warning was issued" or "Nothing we found was breaking ToS" then we can know if it's worth reporting again. And before anyone says "Just ignore them" that only works to a small degree, it doesn't stop them griefing your events, making spoof characters with offensive bios, or even just making another free account to message you. Ignoring is a tool but not a fix all tool

I came here to talk about the Magisterium trial, but I see now I am in the wrong place. Much like when 8 ladies asked me out, then I realized I was in the wrong restroom.

sell all your insp drops and donate the funds to @Snarky Where we are making tomorrow better!