EmperorSteele

I played the first part, and it was pretty good. The only thing I'd change is in mission... 2 or 3, where you have to link up with Sister Solaris in the "Spirit world Croatoa" map? She needs a big green aura like the other sibyls. I spent a solid 20 (frustrating) minutes looking for her, because she blends in with the rest of the Cimerorian Traitors, and so I couldn't tell where she was. It doesn't help that her text activated the second I went into the mission, so I couldn't even use that as a guide to find her once I started looking (that's a current MA mission bug, though, hopefully they can fix that sooner or later). Also, you do this thing where Daedalus says you should bring some help along, like a lot of the old CoH arcs do... exceeeeept this is Mission Architect, and you're in TF mode, which means no, you CAN'T invite people halfway through, so it's a little jarring to see that sort of thing. Otherwise, I found part 1 to be pretty engaging. Lots of new foes to fight, and I enjoyed reading their bios. You keep things short, sweet, and to the point, and overall it's pretty solid! Looking forward to playing part 2 😃

So, I played this, and, it was a good time! I think the charm of this mission is lost playing it solo on a lower difficulty, it really seems like it wants to be a giant den of chaos! So, I'm gonna have to get a team together and do just that! Two bits of critique: You seemed to have gone back and forth using Real Names vs Nake Fames. Also, one of the mission entry pop ups, I think it was mission 3, had the first half of a sentence repeated or something? I dunno, it just looked confusing. Either way, the text in this arc could use an editing pass. Otherwise, this arc was a bit of cheeky fun. 4 stars!

What I meant by "not able to enhance the power" is that you only get a maximum of 6 slots per power (which you're well aware), and that there are like 5 or 6 separate damage procs you can put into your Hold powers. So, yeah, you can fill all your slots with procs, but then the power won't be very good besides. You'll have to shore that up with set bonuses or other abilities that give +acc and +recharge (Set bonuses do not affect your proc chance, only enhancement does).

I run an Ill/Time, and it's a beast. Just solo'd the LGTF with her last night in about an hour and a half. I mean, I didn't use any insanely high difficulty setting, I think it was just +0/x4, but still, it was cake. With /Time, you get an Extra Hold, a +Def power, a +Recharge power, and you have an ability which lowers enemies' ToHit and another that debuffs Def/Res. It's a true Jack of All Trades, and it works with Illu REALLY well, both by shoring up its weaknesses (Adds more hard and soft control, and gives you more recharge) as well as playing to Illu's strengths (weakens foes to let PA kill them easier). Once you have both Blind and Time Stop, you can load one or both up with damage procs, and essentially turn your controls into Blaster-level attacks. Mind you, the procs won't all always go off, and proc-loading means not enhancing the power (so the holds will only last like 8 seconds and take a while to recharge and use a lot of Endurance), but the ability to one-shot minions is a worthwhile price to pay, IMO. Any Controller Primary can do this with their main Hold, but Time gives you a second one, as well as an extra power (Distortion Field) to load a Hold set into so you're not missing out on Set bonuses. But yeah, either way, it's a great combo, but it matures late, and it can do wonderful things once set up correctly!

If neither combo does it for you, mix it up. Elec/Kin should synergize very well; Kin can shore up your damage, and two of its powers also drain Endurance, but don't affect recovery, which Elec/* should help with. But that's just theorycrafting!

Aah, forgive the presumption, then! It's just you didn't have any other posts, so I kinda figured you were new-ish. I've also never put the two together --I main a Mind/Kin and an Illu/Time--, so I was only going off my experience on those two combos. I suppose in your case, if you have an idea what you're doing and know all about set bonuses and all, focus on the Illu side. Kin doesn't need much slotting when you have a boatload of extra accuracy and recharge, and Kin doesn't utilize many sets anyway, at least not in a way that makes sense (I wouldn't 5-slot Speed Boost just for a set bonus, for instance). But yeah, my main point stands: if you post a build, people will be more inclined to help out. Otherwise... well, you've seen the lack of helpful responses otherwise =/

So, what, did you PL her to 50 without even playing her at all? Like, did you literally door-sit the entire time? ...I'm not trying to be judgy, it's just that Illusion is a weird hybrid set that can be played in many different ways, such as a stealthy trickster, or a up-front combatant, an agent of chaos or a battlefield tactician. And there's a chance that I'd build for one of those things, and you'd hate it, because you may not enjoy that specific playstyle. In addition, it's just kind of a thing around here that we don't just give away builds to people who won't do the minimum leg work of discovering their build. Heck, you may find that you don't even LIKE playing Illu/Kin, so why should we make a build for you, have you buy all those IOs, just for you to say "...yuck"? You should really spend some time playing lowbie content with her, and get a feel for how to play her, and which powers you like using, and which one's you don't. There's no build advice anyone can give you that will be better than ACTUALLY playing the character and getting a feel for them. Regardless, I'll be nice and give you some generic info/slotting suggestions, and maybe someone else will come along and offer corrections/additional tips: Phantom Army is Illusion's key power, and any Illusion build worth its salt will work to minimize this power's downtime, and take advantage of the unique opportunities it offers. When cast, you get three invincible pets that draw agro and do a bit of damage. But they automatically despawn after about a minute. They cannot be buffed or healed, but they also cannot be debufed or damaged. The default recharge time on the power is pretty high (4 minutes), so it's hard to make this power "perma" (which is to say, you won't be able to recast this power before your PAs wear off without significant investment). You'll want 6 slots in this power. Fill those slots with 3 Damage IOs, and 3 Recharge Reduction IOs. If money is no object, make each of those +5 with Boosters. You'll want Hasten (from the Speed pool) in your build. 3-slot this with Recharge Reduction IOs, and +5 them. Make sure you have Siphon Speed from the Kinetics set. It doesn't need a lot to be effective. 1 Accuracy IO and 1 Recharge Reduction IO. +5 them. Just a note, this power will also make you run around super fast! If you're using Hover, it'll let you fly around at a good speed while maintaining control of your movement. As long as Hasten is active and you can keep stacking Siphon Speeds, you'll be able to resummon PAs fairly quick after they die. However, Hasten will sometimes be on cooldown, and sometimes you'll miss your Siphon Speed, so your downtime may be closer to 30 seconds at points. Flash is your AoE Hold. However, it only affects foes in melee range. Luckily, your best Kinetics power, Fulcrum Shift, ALSO works best in melee range (Transfusion and Transference, your HP and Endurance restoration powers, also work exclusively in melee)! So your strat here is to wander into the middle of a group of foes (either invisible with Superior Invisibility, or while your PAs are distracting them), cast Flash, then Fulcrum Shift, then unleash any AoE damage powers you may have picked up from your pool or Ancillary sets (Wall of Force, Spring attack, Fireball, etc)! For Flash, you'll want to 6-slot it: 2 Acc, 2 Hold, and 2 Recharge IOs, all +5'd. Fulcrum Shift doesn't require as much: 1 Acc and 1 Recharge is fine, but +5 on those. You may need to hit a baddie with Transference since both these powers consume a good deal of Endurance. Transfusion and Transference: 2 Acc, 1 Recharge, and 2 Heal or Endurance Modification IOs, respectively. All +5'd. Phantasm: Your main Pet. He's actually a bit janky. Unlike PA, he doesn't die automatically after a minute. However, he CAN die if he takes enough damage, and boy is he squishy! However, he'll benefit from your Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift powers, and can be buffed by Speed Boost and Increase Density. 6-slot him for 3 Recharge Redux, 2 Damage, and 1 Accuracy (and again, +5 on all of them). Siphon Power, IF you take it, should get 1 Acc IO. If you have an extra slot, add a Recharge into it. Speed Boost and Increase Density can both get away with the default slot. Put a Endurance Modification IO into SB, and a Resist Damage IO into ID (if you get it, it's semi-skippable). +5 on those definitely, though! Health and Stamina: I've only been recommending basic IOs and not any set/named ones so far, because again, I'm not inclined to create a full build from scratch, buut in this case, I'd be doing you a disservice by not recommending Miracle: +Recovery for Health, and Performance Shifter: Chance for +End in Stamina. Put 1 more slot into Health and put a level 50+5 Healing IO into it, and put 2 more slots into Stamina, placing 2x 50+5 Endurance Modification IOs into that power. You don't have to "+5" the Miracle or Performance shifter procs, as their levels don't count towards the benefit they give you. The rest of the powers available to you are up to preference, and there's far too many to go over, especially once you start getting into Pool powers and Epic powers. The amount of choices available are literally overwhelming, so, I get where you're coming from... but then again, you've apparently never even played this character, so that's kind of a trap you put yourself into! Tell ya what: roll up a 2nd Illu/Kin, but this time, actually do content with the character. Do some sewer runs, learn the first ~5 levels worth of powers. See whether or not you like using a high damage power that heals the bad guy after a few seconds, or if you like turning a bad guy against his friends or if that's just a waste of your time. Use repel a few times before your teammates start yelling at you to stop knocking everyone all over the place! Get that character up to level 10, then do the Positron Task Force. Select powers you think sound fun, and just use them! if you find yourself NOT using them, or if you don't like what they do, then you know what not to include in your level 50 build, and maybe we can go from there!

How about you show us what you currently have? That will tell us a) what you've already done and b) your power choice preference. I don't want to make and post a build that uses the Flight pool and Fire Epic if you prefer to go SS and PSI respectively. Or anything else that too-far off your intended playstyle. Give it a whirl, and you'll probably get a few responses 😃

I know it's not the same or applicable to every secondary, but you could always debuff the non-confused mobs instead!

Back on Live, before Incarnates and before IOs, I had my Mind/Kin rolling with a PI puG. The team consisted of a Fire Tank, an Invuln tank, and a few more Defenders and Blasters, iirc, some of whom were SK'd up to 49. We came across a map I hadn't seen before, but that many are familiar with by now: The Clockwork King's dimension. We did well enough as we fought through the Psychic Clockwork, though the Tanks were struggling. Finally, we got to the Clockwork King AV (who was +2, I think?). The team charged in, and within MOMENTS, both the tanks were dead. The Defenders tried to rez them, but they were either taken down, or the Tanks fell again before they could re-buff. We were close to a wipe, so I called a retreat so we could regroup, but I'd stay back and hold them off. I popped Indomitable Will and an orange, and went to town. I used Siphon Power, Fulcrum Shift, and Siphon Speed to neuter the King, while using my AoE hold and confuse to keep his minions at bay. This went on for several minutes, when something occurred to me: "Where's my team?" I took a moment between attacks to pan my camera around, and saw them standing on a nearby hill, watching and cheering! That's when it occurred to me: Holy crap, I'm soloing an AV! Mind you, this was a time when it seemed like only select powersets or builds could do so, so it was a pretty nice feeling! Sadly, my moment of awesome ended there, as I realized that while the CK couldn't hurt me, I wasn't hurting him, either. So I called everyone else down, and we soundly committed regicide! (That's probably more than 250 words but that's about as brief as I could make it, w/e)

The problem with Mind also is that its abilities are superfluous on a team, especially one that's rolling. Sleeping mobs get attacked and woken up. "Fear"d mobs get attacked and break the fear. Confused mobs get killed and therefore don't help damage output. Your TK "root" will usually get killed first because reasons. Try to use Total Domination? By the time it goes off, everyone's dead anyway. And as has been stated, MC for Dominators is really good, so any changes you make to MC would likely port over to them. What I would do is re-work Containment entirely, with the emphasis of giving Mind an advantage to make up for its lack of a pet and "large rolling team friendliness". Something like, have each type of control (including confuse and fear) give a certain damage bonus, with immob being the lowest. You'd also get a higher bonus for stacking magnitude, so even if a foe isn't affected by a hold or whatever, you still get some bonus. This would be a surface nerf to most other Controller sets (since they rely more on immobs, which would get the lowest bonus as I already stated), but would prove a net positive for those who use multiple powers and keep attacking, which is exactly what Mind does best. Either that, or swap Confuse for Mass Confuse (maybe bump it to level 8 or 10, OR let Confuse just be able to affect more targets as you level up), and have the level 32 power be one that can turn enemies into allies and give you a pet window to control their actions for a short time. But, you know, Cottage Rule.

Just on casting.

DONE!

Forgot to post this before: DONE! (for now...)

I don't record numbers, but it's been my experience that damage and hold procs don't work well in Distortion Field (which was a proc BEAST on Live). Overpowering Presence: Energy Font will spawn EVERY time I use the power, but that's about it, sadly.

TO is Training Origin, and are the first enhancements you'll gain access to normally. They can be slotted by anyone, but usually give abysmal enhancement values (less than 10%). DOs: Dual-Origin are enhancers that give about half-ish the value of an SO, but can only be slotted by characters who are one of two origins (for instance, an enhancement that gives 16.5% damage but can only be slotted by Science and Technology origin characters). The two origins required are usually "complementary": Sci/Tech, Sci/Mutant, Magic/Natural, etc. You won't find, say, Mutant/Tech or Magic/Science. Ahh, Ninja'd by Justicebeliever =P

Sep, dude... I'm all for kiting out my builds to the max, but your elitist "everyone should learn how to use the endgame system" attitude is NOT helpful. I might spend hours and days working out how to get that extra 1% recharge or defense, but that doesn't mean everyone else has to. If someone wants to use SOs, LET them. This game is centered around player CHOICE. Do you choose to enhance your character with SOs, or IOs, or Sets? It's up to each player to decide that for themselves, it's NOT up to YOU to dictate how other people play. Again, in case you're getting defensive, it's NOT up to YOU to dictate how other people play. And also, if we start balancing things around IOs, then guess what, your 1 billion inf build is no longer all that powerful. And it would be even more punishing to casual players who can't work around getting debuffed into next week because enemies are designed to counter people with Defcap and permahasten. Though, I do kinda agree that maybe late-game balance should at least consider that basic level 50 IOs exist and are slotted by a good number of people. And yeah, I wish more people took the game "seriously" and didn't bring down the whole team by not being able to clear a +4/x8 map by themselves (friggin noobs), but, that's not up to me, and again, it's NOT up to YOU to dictate how other people play. And before you respond, take a deep breath, count to ten, and realize that continuing this argument won't make you "right" and everyone else "wrong". If you want to be helpful, go test the changes they've proposed and give objective feedback.

AGH, I missed a nemesis invasion?! Crapbaskets!!! XD

I main both a Mind/Kin and an Illu/Time, so, take what I say with maybe a small grain of salt. First, as of right now, procs, especially damage ones, are your Best Friends. Dominate, Total Domination, Time Stop and -to a lesser degree- Distortion field, can all be loaded with Damage procs to great effect. You'll melt darn near anything! Depending on what pool and epic powers you take, you can also get some mileage out of Force Feedback: Chance for + recharge procs (they go into Levitate, and any power with a knock component, of which there are plenty in the pool and epic choices). Note that Distortion field, even though it's in your secondary, still takes Hold and the Controller ATO sets, and if nothing else makes a good set mule, allowing you to slot Dominate and Time Stop for damage. I recommend going Primal Forces for your epic, because Power Boost + Farsight = Broken self-capped defenses, especially when used with Time's Juncture, which debuffs any nearby foes' ToHit rating. As you're leveling up, don't be afraid of using Confuse. In conjunction with the slows from Time, you're basically just keeping a dude off your back while you kill his friends, so that synergizes nicely. As a word of warning, if you put damage procs in the confuse powers, it will negate the "do not agro" flags on those powers, so you won't be able to be very stealthy while using those. For pool powers, I recommend Hasten and Hover, then go for whatever else you want from there. Time is one of those sets where you may want every power, though, so any build with it is going to be tight (If anything, Time's Juncture and Distortion Field are the only two I'd drop). As For Mind, well.... *sigh*, I love it and don't like recommend skipping any of its powers, but it's also not in a very good place right now. The way everything gets steamrolled on teams these days makes its sleeps, confuses, TK and fear pretty much useless (though if you slot Terrorize for damage, at least you can feel like you're contributing!). And if you're gonna skip those powers, well, then you may as well play another primary and get yourself an actual pet at level 32. If you're solo or on a very small team, though, it's toolbox will shine. I will say that you should totally keep Mesmerize, though, because it's the only power in the game that can one-shot shut down most AVs, which is VERY useful for multi AV fights (It's the only power I actively miss when playing my other controllers, go fig). Also, having it, Levitate, and Dominate (as well as Time Stop with procs) gives you a solid single-target attack chain that many Controllers lack, so you may as well go all in and play to Mind's one strength. Hope this gives you something to chew on 😃

Hmm, is "Resurrected" taken? We've returned from the ether and have stayed alive for an entire year so far, so I think the anniversary badge needs to reflect that 🙂

I misread the title and was very confused as to why anyone would think that they could eat a screenshot in the first place.

Well, as for what to add, I made a thread here: Some of the take-aways are that some factions are under-represented. All the Praetorian enemies have defeat badges, why not certain other critters? Though at the same time, a bunch of random "defeat 100 guys" badges aren't all that creative and would be a minor chore for a level 50 as opposed to something fun. There are some things in the game which are certainly very challenging, and there should be some award for it. I think the biggest desire is to get some exploration badges and some plaques/history badge in Kalisti Wharf. I wish certain accolades were account wide, such as the master crafter badge. I know we can buy the associated temp power fro like 10 million inf, but by the time you can afford that, you don't really need it any more. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with badges the way they are 😃

/Kin is good mostly for survivabilty and sustaining, as well as the +damage. With judicious use of Siphon Power, Siphon Speed, Fulcrum Shift and Transfusion, an AV will have a hard time doing meaningful damage. That said, if you're constantly spamming those powers, then you're not attacking. /Kin also isn't great for set bonuses, but it IS great for saving slots, as most of its powers can get away with only the default slot, especially if you have extra accuracy/recharge bonuses from sets put into your main and pool powers.

Clearly it's Mind/Emp. All this talk of debuffing foes and having pets to buff up is pure malarkey!

Oooh, so it was an inverse scaling, not at all what I would have expected! Gotchya!