MTeague

I mean, there's shades off gray going on here, too. Diablo III, sure they add some minor stuff each season, but the game is basically Done. Nothing reallllly fundamental is likely to change now. Or Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, from Steam? It's essentially stagnant. Original Subnautica? Not likely to change much (though Subnautica:Below Zero, is still early release....) But like a brand new Bethesda game? Yea, no matter how badly I wanted to play Fallout 4 back when it first came out in 2015? I wait until May 2016 to buy it. Because like eveyrthing Bethesda releases, it was going to have a ton of game-breaking bugs / borked quests requiring console command fixes, and have lots of small bugs that they would NEVER willingly address. Only the Unofficial Patches made by the modding communities make Bethesda games worth playing. So it that's where @Outrider_01 is coming from on "don't waste money on unfinished games", I can see that. Sure, maybe it's more of a blanket statement, lacking in some nuance for exactly where he draws the line and says "This kind of stuff is okay, that kind of crap is just unfinished.". But I can get disgust with some gaming studios who consider the end-user to be their Alpha testers. At least for me, it boils down to: does it really feel like they're not even trying? CoH of course, passed that test with flying colors. NCSoft is still in the "Never Forgive" bucket, but that's for pulling the plug on it, not for their QC practices.

Etymology Man: https://xkcd.com/1010/ Yes, I dream of powersets like "Pedantic Assault, Pedantic Control, Pedantic Armor" being added to the game.

Two Words: Drain Psyche Although, I get /Psi is far from (and should not be) a universal choice for secondary. It really did help the levelling push, though. My Dom's probably do get sugar-daddied / spend time marketeering more than any other AT I play though. They're very powerful and until they can establish control over the battlefield, very fragile. So I try to rock the set bonuses and the unique IO's ASAP on Doms. Panacea, Power Transfer, Perf Shifter, Miracle, Steadfast/Glad Arm, ReactiveDef/Shield Wall, ATO's, Winter-O's, etc.

a) missing sucks b) set bonus / ranged defense was my main reason

That explains the difference in my experience then. I usually don't go completely nuts with Procs. My stormy has LS six-slotted with the full Thunderstrike set. I mean, intellectually, I know proc's are very powerful. I know I'm probably making some sub-optimal choices. But I can only ever Frankenproc like 1-2 powers per character. And even then I still hear the wailing of broken set bonuses haunting my dreams.

I took Thunderclap on my Storm/Sonic, largely because the animation and sound is just awesome lol. It does have lessened accuracy. I think only 0.8 default acc. But I tend to have lots of +acc from set bonuses, and a decent amount from the IO's slotted in the power itself. It tags things pretty reliably for me. Really though, on the Storm/Sonic, I can pair it with Screech to stun a boss for a decent long time. Usually not a major issue, Hurricane means they Whiff For Days anyway. Thunderclap is also sometimes handy to lock down a squad of minions. Some minions are more serious than others. /eye Sapper

Huh. I just assumed they'd have Crusader/Warden/Responsibility/Loyalist as options for AE as well. They don't? That's a shame.

Hm. Well my Stormy is a Defender, so maybe Vigilance covers me more than I'm thinking... but for the most part I've had very few End issues in battle while levelling my Stormy. Now, there were stretches, low-20's, where if I was soloing, I basically had to take a knee and Rest after damn near every fight, because it's that point of your career where you have all kinds of powers but not NEARLY enough slots to go around. Even if you're using Attuned Sets, you may still not have enough End Redux to just keep going 100% nonstop. But I never ran out mid-battle. Teaming, it's just a strategic decision of what toggles NOT to run. If I'm teaming and running Manuevers and Steam Mist and Tactics and flopping mobs on their buts with Freezing Rain and dropping resistances with Howl / Scream / etc, then do I really *need* to be running Snow Storm? Probably not. Hurricane I almost never run on teams. It can be used for good, if you're careful to skim the edge of a pack and not sitting on the tank. But I've dealt with enough "eewwww it has repel! turn it off turn it off!!!!" that I don't bother anymore. Soloing though, Hurricane is your FRIEND, full stop. Never had a problem targetting Tornado, or Freezing Rain or Lightning Storm. I have keybinds for each and it's tap-click, tap-click, tap-click. O2 boost I barely use as a heal until I start getting to late 30's or early 40's, when I can afford to give it a couple extra slots. But I always use O2 boost to free people from Stuns, etc, and always to try to cover melee if we're fighting mobs that do lots of Endurance Drain. (Malta / Carnies / SuperStunners, etc)

For me... Mission intro text. It doesn't have to be a novel, but it has to give my character a reason WHY. And the mission should be flagged accordingly. If the mission is "Oh no, there are helpless kittens trapped on Thorn Tree Isle", then don't leave that mission flagged as "Any Morality". Label it "Hero" and I'm cool with that. If you want to make a Villain mission, then tell me we have a good opportunity to collect the kittens and hand them out to incoming freshmen at Paragon University, where they will rapidly mature into bloodthirsty sabertooths that should devour a third of the freshman class. Always always always answer the "What's my motivation?" for the Morality the mission is meant to be played for. If everything else is flubbed but the mission writer nails this part, I'm content. Labelling. Related to the above point. If you're going for a Blazing-Saddles or Spaceballs style of satire, that's awesome. But label it with a Comedy / Humor tag. If your mission is designed to stress-test an endgame build, every Minion is running Leadership toggles, every Lieutentant is covering them in Force Fields, and every Lieut and Boss is hitting you with some of the most obnoxious debuffs possible, great! But LABEL it in some manner, so the unsuspecting soul at lvl 32 with just SO's doesn't wander into the Blender. Same thing if your mission is full of EB's and AV's. There's lots of tags available, look them over. In-Mission-Dialogue. There are of course, unfortunate bugs where NPC speech doesn't always fire at the correct time. But some well written NPC speech can really make-or-break the feel of a mission, taking it from "oh a room with more mobs in it, okay", to having a room where the Evil Scientist goes on a tear about how NOTHING can possibly stop him now just as you approach. Stuff like that sets the table, and change it from last room of a mission to a "very satisfying thump as they hit the floor". Defeatability. Because you're talking specifically about Solo players. Having a challenging endboss or final task of some kind, is great. Lots of the most memorable missions have them. But consider, "How would you defeat this if you were playing <insert your least favorite power combo here>". Maybe some things just won't be defeatable by everybody. But don't create something where the endboss regens so strongly that you end up with a DPS check and anyone without -Regen debuffs can just cry and go home, unless the mission giver / intro text WARNS them of this. I'm willing to make a side trip to Bloody Bay for a Shivan if I need to. But let me know before I've cleared a giant map and finally found the endboss.

@Yomo Kimyata love it! and can't help but think of Caddyshack.

The Endurance Drain protection on Consume is terribly nice. Verrrry handy against Malta and the like, esp if you have enough recharge. Healing Flames also comes with a +15% toxic resist that STACKS, and it's up pretty often. I've gotten 45% toxic resist constant from just that alone when on a Hydra-filled-map, and Cauterizing Aura is a nice reliable topper-offer. All in all, I quite like Fiery Aura for Sents. Doesn't have Psi resist, but not hard to patch that with IO's. What it does not have.... At all... and you simply have to live with.... is absolutely zero Defense Debuff Resistance. You can stack +Defense bonuses all day long take manuevers and weave, etc. But Cascade Failure *Will* be a threat you have to live with. I chose to stack mostly +Resist bonuses and take some +Def where i could fit it in. For walking around defense, I only have like 20% melee / ranged / AE. Not everyone is going to be comfortable with that. But it puts within striking distance of softcap with some Luck's, and for sure easy if I'm with a Bubbler or Cold, or if enough people on the team are running Manuevers. (Fortitude is always nice to, but I tend to assume someone else will get the Fort's)

Quantums can suck at the LOW levels, particularly if you don't use Nova form, and are too low level to have Dwarf form, don't have any kind of stealth, no way to get the drop on them. Back in the day I rage-deleted .... 8 different peacebringers? Not just rage quit. I mean I deleted the characters, I was that fed up. So yea. I get what you're saying. They can cause a fair amount of high blood pressure. But I've learned a LOT more about the game since the old days, and learned a lot more about how to leverage my character's abilities better. They're not impossible. You can handle Quants the same way you handle other particularly bad nasties on other characters, like say, Veles or Cherno during the Skull arcs. VERY few problems cannot be solved by application of 2 reds and 2 purples. So hoard those as you solo. Spend them as needed. Then press on, continue the rest of the mission unconcerned. As you get more powers you'll have better options to handle them before they handle you. And there's always the "Team with a Controller" option. Or anybody, really.

Yea. I love my Fire/Fire/Fire Sentinel. Conceptually, he's a being of living steel and fire. Very tough. Can hurl fire or just burn in place. Is the Doctor Doom of my entire villain lineup. But umm... yea. There is a definite difference. The Fire Cubed Sentinel can clear any map that my Spines/Regen stalker can clear. But not nearly as fast. I still like Sents, but it's one of those "go into it eyes open" things.

100% agree. 14-30 is my preferred teaming range. High enough everyone has a few powers, and your character feels like they've earned a little bit of street cred, but no crashless T9's on a rotation obliterating everything, no incarnates popping Barrier or Clarion on a rotation, etc. The team usually has to work together instead of being a roaming murderball that just annihilates everything without resistance. I tend to say "mid-level story arc / tip mission teams".

I like Dr. Quaterfield TF! We need more Rularu! And a restricted version of the Shadow Shard with no teleports, no flying, you have to use the gravity geysers to get around! Darn it Sheogorath, put down the cheese and fish sticks!! Why are you tying me up in the straight jacket? I'm fine!! really!!

PowerBuildUp looks perhaps too abuseable. Maybe a version that only amplifies Knock effects and not Defense or Hold or other secondary effects. Unless any other Blast sets come with PowerBuildUp already?

Any aura / shield effect would light it up anyway. "Look at me! I'm a disembodied pair of fists and a cloak". Teammate: Here, take an Ice Shield. *paints ice around the full skeleton, visible or not* Same with Thermal Shields, Stealth, Any armor toggle, any heal spell hitting you that glows around you, etc. I really think you'd be disappointed with the result, unless they re-coded the animations for damn near every power in the game to compensate. That right there is a good reason not to do it, IMHO. It's also why, as much as I reallllly want a Martial Arts Scrapper with a lower-snake-body, I don't expect to ever see it. And that's even with Snakes in the game as an existing resource.

Not opposed to the idea, but my tanker monitors his damage % for exactly this reason. It's on the right hand edge of my screen, and whether or not I notice the exact number I have no problem noticing when it flips to red text, then just hang back for a second, maybe Taunt something, maybe reposition the crowd. I can see how it might be more difficult to notice if you had Red/Green colorblindness or more reduce periphial vision or something else going on though.

/FF is really overdue for a revamp. I get and appreciate that the Homecoming Devs like to be cautious and deliberate, and try to figure out what they can do that will minimize unhappy surprises for the players. That's a good, solid, professional, admirable way to operate. But really, /FF needs help. You can get amazing amount of mitigation out of it, true. And so can /Time. And /Cold. And /Empathy. And /Thermal, and /Traps, and /Rad, and /Dark.... but all of them bring something else to the table. Now, it's true, FF does not JUST bring Defense to the table. Force Fields brings: Defense Permanent Personal Status Protection on a AT that usually has none. Detention Field. While not perhaps popular, it can isolate a specific nasty target while you blow up a crowd around it. Knockback Out The Wazoo. Again, not exactly popular, but can be used to protect against foes who would otherwise bypass your defenses. Mobs that are flying the friendly skies are not attacking you or your pets or anyone else. PFF. Can be used to soak alphas and such if you were so inclined, so your pets aren't as carved up by it, on the initial pull of a Big Meanie. Some care is required though, as it will suppress Pet Auras and Supremacy as part of the "only affects self". It's not quite a one trick pony. But the reality of the current state of the game, is no one gives a flying bleep about anything but the first two tricks. And that is not likely to change in the near future. It's godlike if you're exemping down to lower levels. Midrange teams will sing your praises. 45+.... not so much. I have no idea how you thematically squeeze better offensive powers into the set though. Not unless Knockback ITSELF started carrying extra damage as mobs are flung into walls, slammed into the floor, etc.

AR / Martial is a fun fix. I'm soloing one through First Ward, and she kicks face (literally... storm kick and all....) I don' have quite the same mix of powers you do, but it's easily the most blappy blaster I've done in a long long time. I don't have mids on the laptop, but I've got: 1 - Burst 1 - Ki Push 2 - Slug 4 - Storm Kick 6 - Buckshot 8 - Speed of Sound 10 - Burst of Speed 12 - Sniper Rifle 14 - Reach for the Limit 16 - Dragon Tail 18 - Flamethrower 20 - Reaction Time 22 - Toxic Dart (meh, but placeholder to unlock next one....) 24 - Adrenal Booster 26 - Ignite 28 - Inner Will My character is only lvl 29, so, don't have the rest filled out quite yet. But loving it so far. The main this is just the raw screaming mobility. Between Burst of Speed to bamf in for quick strikes and Jaunt to pop out to proper range for some cones, I can be anywhere at a click. I recognize many will not care for Ignite but with an Immob proc from Frozen Blast, it's kind of nice. Plus, Ki Push and the Knockbacks, properly used into corners, can leave mobs stuck in the fire with no way out, and the Knockdowns can keep them there a bit longer to keep burning. I know, I don't have Hasten, and that makes me a heretic, but I haven't felt a need for it. I've always got a couple attacks up and ready to use. Adrenal Booster is such a wonderful Oh-Crap! key, particularly for some of the First Ward stuff.

I would use Seeds of Confusion relentllessy, unless specifically asked by the team leader to stop. If the team leader asks that I not use Seeds, I drop group. Period. I have very few true red lines in this game. But "omg I losing xp!!!!" is such a misplaced concern compared to the vast increase in kill speed. And hell, blasters are probably following any case of Seeds with a Fireball, so the mobs are all tagged, you're going to exp.

"You don't want to sell me Deathsticks. You want to go home and rethink your life." More seriously though, there's very few sets where I could argue mobs are merely subdued vs broken/killed. Mind is a good example of one that works. Esp if your final blow is Mezmerize. They slump to the ground asleep, and wake up in the Zig. Dominate, well, okay they're clutching at their head in pain. But the Hellion Humane Society probably prefers them getting a temporary migraine to being "Arrested" by your average Fire Armor/War Axe tanker.

You can both get merits running stories at once, if you have "enable collaberative missions" in options. At least, it's supposed to allow you to both get credit for advancing them, as long as you both have the same mission(s) available and if you both talk to the contact as you progress along the story arc. Other possible fail conditions.... not sure just spitballing are you not yet level 10? ATO's are 10 and up. are you sure you're looking under the same section of the menu as your friend? There are no Recipes, you have to be looking under the Enhancements section. .... drawing a blank beyond that, though.

I guess. I actually *like* it when I'm the squishy and there's stray mobs running around. Lets my "get outta my face!" powers get used, whether it's a KB, or Immob-And-Kite, or a Fear, or a Repel, or a shorter term Hold/Stun, etc. And the Controllers are pretty much always delighted to have stray mobs. Something to DO!