PyroBeetle

These changes sound good to fix Attune within the concept of the power set. Certainly what I am looking for, at least after having tested it on a Stalker. The range more than anything should prove to be highly relevant, as the power is really wasted on minions, and allowing it to be placed deeper in a group can allow me to work from the edge inwards while it grinds on a boss. I think we all knew that Sonic wasn't going to be a S Tier set off the bat, and while comparing baseline numbers against an S Tier set is good to confirm this, I would say those numbers are not particularly worse than many of the other B Tier or even A Tier sets. Given the tradeoff for the team utility of debuffing resistance to debuffs, is that a bad thing? Really looking forward to seeing how the set plays with high debuffing toon like a sonic defender or a Huntsman build. With procs my Huntsman debuffs resistance at around 60% in an area, and that number not being resisted against purples will be meaningful. I think having another damage set with some team utility is not a bad thing, and am willing to sacrifice some top end DPS to achieve that.

As I thought the Sonic Melee set offered something fairly unique to Stalkers, that being a fully viable AoE mode, I have been playing around with it a bit. The build I have been using is Sonic/Stone, and I really enjoy the way that the broad and deep melee cone allows me to face and shoot. The build I have been using allows me to basically Build Up, fire the cone, fire the pbaoe, fire the cone, by which time the AT proc has reset the Build Up, wash rinse, and repeat using the time to reset the attuned anchor on another boss or lt if the first one died. The set does not do good damage unless you play with the attune mechanic, but I am used to something similar on the Sentinels that I play. I have attune bound to the z key and I recycle it whenever the target it is on dies. It is a different playstyle, and one that takes a bit of getting used to, but the speed of the set allows me to run a chain of the T9, T2 and Assassins Whisper on an attuned target, if it lasts that long, I will intersperse applying Attune in the chain as required. From a fun flow and feeling standpoint the set feels fine on a Stalker. The T9 hits like a Mack Truck going 90 miles an hour downhill, the animations are not onerous, things die before I notice the hold mechanic, but the KD mechanic is noticeable in the AoE cone. The only thing that bothers me is the constant whispering in the background, but only because it is indistinguishable from my wife speaking to her sister on the phone in the back room. One thing to add, and this is a a true negative to the set, is that I too wish that I didnt have to be leg humping a bad guy to apply Attune. With the way the set works, especially on a Stalker where I have been cycling attacks before an enemy alerts to Attune being placed on them, allowing Attune to be placed from range would better allow me to play from the edge in, like a Claws Scrapper as opposed to starting my AoE barrage in the middle of spawn wanting to chomp on my flimsy behind. It matters to a Stalker, especially as most of the edge spawns are minions and Attune is largely wasted on a Minion.

I would love to see this...and you are correct, the build is tight, and I couldn't make it do everything I wanted without making a couple of sacrifices. And it may also be that the sets I used are outliers, as achieving the same survivability with the tank build did free up a couple of slots that I had to place just so. It also might not work as well with a tighter fast animating attack chain, as I did have to sacrifice a little bit of top end recharge, which my ST attack chain doesn't care about, to achieve the same goals. But since the Tanker changes I cannot really feel but that on a same or similar build, the Brute just dogwalks the Tanker when it comes to damage.

I have been testing on Tank and Brute with Psy Armor...I have much preferred the set on Brute

Greetings, I played Live from Beta through Sunset, and I have played on Homecoming since April of 2019. Just saying by way of background. I have mained many different toons over the course of that time, and many of them have been tankers, however I have recently gone back to Brutes, when I can build one to be reasonably comparable on the survivability scale to a Tank. The damage tradeoff gap is...noticible...between the two now. I have been playing around with the new Sonic Melee set, and have to say much preferred the experience on a Brute compared to the Tanker. Similarly, on the live servers, I messed around with a Elec/Rad Tank only to rebuild him as a Rad/Elec Brute. I was still able to cap or come within a portion of a percent to SLEFCP with N at 54 and T at 38. My build is not a farmer or designed to farm and has 100 percent resistance to Endurance, Recovery, Recharge, Slow, and with Ageless Radial stands at 90% resistance to to hit and perception. I was able to incorporate at least one damage proc in all of my attacks and just melt mobs of all types. Functionally, the Ageless doesn't really affect the build beyond debuff resistance, so can substitute T4 Barrier for group play. I do not rely on it for endurance. I have 3 Power Transfer Procs and other goodies plus permanent Energize for regeneration to stack with the resists, so dont really see the health bar or end bar move much if at all. So the question is this, given the comparable survivability, why wouldn't I go for the superior damage of the Brute? I am away from my primary CPU right now, so cannot post the build, but can do so when I get home, if anybody is interested.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned here is MA/SD. SD can be build to softcap relatively easily and you have e some wiggle room to address the Psi hole via enhancements (I add 23% resistance that way). Has a simple to run AoE chain of Eagle Claw/Dragon's Tail/Crippling Axe Kick, and an easy to run ST chain of Eagle Claw/Storm Kick/Crippling Axe Kick/Storm Kick. What makes it good is that Eagle Claw can be leveraged to quite reliably (Above 80%) proc Critical Strikes as well as granting its own crit bonus which makes all of its follow on attacks crit quite well. Further, Focus Chi with one Recharge IO syncs quite nicely with shield charge for an opener every group.

I dont actually use orange insp like a fiend, hit 50 and still dont have Melee yet, and didnt take RoP until 44 due to other build priorities. The primary thing that I do is lean on MoG as my crutch in this time and the KD in Foot Stomp. I go and Stomp pull a group to the corner, then use my heals as needed. If tanking down health too fast, I will pop MoG. Really in normal content I have been running +0 x8 and didnt go above 0 until after I got my Alpha in place...have been running the Dark Astoria arcs at +2 x8 with my full build, only Alpha incarnates...RoP I use when I cannot corner a mob. Couple of things, I keep attacking even when Rage crash because procs are a thing and the KD is an important part of the mitigation, as is the tanker proc in Haymaker. It's why I needed more endurance than Betty's build provided. The other is I focus down the mobs that make things difficult. Regen is fine once you get it IOed out and slotted, even without the Incarnate, but you gotta play to its strengths. You have 2 heals in the base set for a reason, and I use them reactively and really when I notice my health going down, I dont wait to pop Reconstruction. Regarding the inspirations again, I actually auto convert my inspiration to reds to help with damage like a farmer, so...haven't been using the oranges except to fire up my damage. Not every set is to every taste though. Just saying my experience has been different than yours with the set. You are entitled to your opinion and your experience.

My experience has been a bit different. I am using my own modification of Betty's build, because they have a different play style than I do, but I have to say my experience is a bit different than yours. I am only 47 so far because I do not power level, but I feel quite sturdy. I have not yet slotted the purples or catalyst with the winters or tanker sets, of course, but the build is quite tanky as it is. I would not suggest getting rid of RoP. The thing that makes Regen unique among armor sets is the fact that it shines when using Melee Core rotated with RoP. It covers you in rotation, the Melee lasts the 2 minutes that RoP is down. This allows the regeneration, to be greatly effective around all damage types. This allows your MoG to be your emergency button to deal with endurance drainers like Carnival. I also have more endurance regen than Betty, and I use Dominate and Harmony out of Psionic instead of Char and Melt Armor. This allows me to deal woth endurance issues as well, due to the discount. I also plan on using Ageless Radial to help with the debuffing, which I highly suspect is what is making you feel squishy.

MA is interesting, you can design it to crit with an alarmingly high rate if you leverage Eagles Claw. The lack of more AoE that Dragons Tail is made up for my the fact that you can make it almost always crit. Psi is also interesting, but I am not sure the clicky nature of it will work with a rhythm set like MA. I can share a Psi build and a MA build when I get home, you might be able t cobble them together into something.

There are already easy ways to get both Siege and Antimatter, so I do not see the need for any changes to the mission arc as it is. Honestly this is not a game that needs to be a grind, if you are enjoying the toon you play missions dont seem to be that onerous...if you are not enjoying the toon, then honestly, getting Portal Jockey isnt going to solve it for you. And honestly, if you dont enjoy doing the same mission arcs over and over again, playing a 20 year old game is probably not for you...

I have this problem with pets in general. If I move to far away from them or too fast they get lost take extra time to get to me...if I want to stealth to the end of a mission I find myself dropping all my pets then summoning them after I SS and Stealth to the end of the mission and then complete. Other than this, I have found it just as easy to move without sprint, or any other form of speed boost. It took some getting used to but my Pyro/Marine is a steamroller anyhow so it's just extra inf and vet levels to me. I do use the w bind to set them all to aggressive along with my Toroidal Bubble. Actually I have a bind set to every key except s x u i and p to do something to make my play easier, as I am old and lazy.

The newest iteration can be quite tasty for a Mind/Fire(Fire) dom because it clusters enemies nicely for your breath of fire (rain of fire)

So I have been giving this set a spin, and some things from the live forums keep popping up in my mind. I remember there was an extensive complaint from controllers back in the day when taunt combined with AoE punchvoke seemingly made them "obsolete." With multiple claims that taunt was the single best CC available in the game. I think this is why I enjoy Glittering Column so much as a controller, as it adds a good reliable taunt, outside of pet taunt, to the controller arsenal. Secondly, I remember similar threads especially by Energy Blasters claiming that KD/KB was the best control in the game. So it is numerous to me, especially because I have combined Pyrotechnics with Marine, just how much time my enemies spend picking themselves up off the ground. This is not to downplay the other things that the set brings (I skipped the AoE hold as unnecessary as I lacked the slots for it) in stun and confuse, but I find myself loving the launching mechanic the most. Just general food for thought, not posting a build, not talking about times, but for pure fun factor, it is peak CoH for me.

I am not certain that the patch fixes the damage component of Mind Control, but deep sleep does make it an effective tool for setting containment and makes the power usable in a team setting. Telekinesis into Levitate is an interesting AoE, but it still seems like a lot of work compared to playing Pyrotechnics, which rewards it's busy play style with slapping damage.

The recent patch really seemed to boost mind control, especially with the adaptive recharge. Mass Hypnosis is a every group opener for sure. Mind control is the ultimate City of Statues powerset...thinking of remaking my Mind/Kin from live.