Frozen Burn

Nope. Not accurate, The AM we defeat in Tina Mac's arc *IS* the Praetorian AM who came to Primal Earth which starts the "invasion." 🙂 And "Anti-Matter" doesn't exist on Primal Earth - the same person, Dr. Raymond Keyes, does and goes by "Positron" on Primal Earth - so any instance you find of "Anti-Matter" is the Praetorian Dr. Raymond Keyes. The Keyes Trial used to award credit for the Dim Warder badge. If it's not now, then it must be a bug.

Simple. Thugs are not gangsters. Thugs are hired hitters to do one's bidding for whatever random reason they want. Gangsters are a club / group / organization of like-minded individuals, who follow a leader in organized crime. Some gangsters can be thugs, but not all thugs can be gangsters. 🙂 But given all that, yeah, it would be cool to have your "thugs" be yakuza, mafia, triad, etc. Hopefully one day, we'll get MM minion alternate skins. But I think it will be a long while as it takes model and animation design to implement - and I've heard the HC devs doesn't have a volunteer animator. 😞

Hi. The ask for Resist and Defense Purple sets, along with a purple Healing set, goes all the way back to when the sets first came out. The Devs have always been adamant about not making these as they would be too overpowered, and I do not see the HC Devs giving in and making them either. We did get PVP versions, though, which help appease the masses. However, if purple resist and def sets were to be put in - I would be fine with it. I am sure they would enhance the same things the current sets enhance: Res/Def, EndRedux, Rech, and then have some sort of +HP, +Absorb, or other such defensive proc. But as @tidge stated, there is no NEED for these. Sure, there's want and desire, but there is no gap that these fill other than completion's sake for OCD people. 😄 However, there is GREAT need for Purple sets to boost Fear and Threat as Tidge stated. We have purples for practically every mez type: Hold, Sleep, Confuse, Immob, Stun - but nothing for Fear and Threat, and Slow too (not really a mez, but it is a status effect). Fear and Threat IO sets are sorely lacking as it is (4 each - 2 low lvl and 2 high) with not really good options. So, adding a Purple set to them is needed. There are already plenty of Resist and Defense sets - and they actually give bonuses better than Purple sets, imo. So - I am fine with these being asked for, and maybe the HC Devs will implement them. I certainly won't argue if they're put in for me to use once in a blue moon. But there is greater need for other purple sets besides Resist and Def.

I Agree with @biostem and would also make an Energy/Energy Blaster. Energy punching and shooting right there. You can solo and be survivable as well.

Welcome back to the game!! 🙂

...and then a huge wall of text. 😄 I'd hate to see what "long" means to you. Your assumptions are wrong. It is very easy to get to lvl 50. There are tons of people who have many, many, many 50+ characters. And incarnate powers are not bland, but quite diverse - some people are myopic and only just stick to certain ones because they "think" they are the "best" and can't bring themselves to deviate from them, even though, they aren't necessarily the "best" for all toons - and they may spout being boring or bland in the chosen few they only opt for. But again, there is great diversity and it's great fun to experience them all across different toons. Also, it doesn't take months or years to get through the incarnate tiers - weeks / months maybe depending on how often you play. And yes, it is quite challenging during iTrials - it takes a great deal of coordination for the group to win. If the group is experienced, sure, it's an easier time. But many times, it only takes one misstep from a single person to make a situation go haywire and then you have to rally to overcome. That's the challenge and fun. But still... doing iTrials is NOT needed to get your T4 incarnate components. The way you wrote your OP leads me to believe you do none of the incarnate stuff - you even state you are not interested. You're bashing / poo-poo'ing something you have very little to no experience in. Perhaps give it an honest try on several characters before naysaying it. But ultimately, incarnates are here to stay. It's part of the Lore. And there will be more coming down the pipe testing our incarnate abilities further as well as advancing the incarnate story. I appreciate your idea of coming up with an alternative to the incarnate system that you are clearly adverse to trying for some reason. But as @Rudra stated above, tapping into other powersets is game-breaking and pushes the boundaries too far. There are already Epic Pools which simulate what you are asking for, but think about how many years it's taken to make them balanced so that they are not OP - and they're STILL being tweaked. The most you can hope for here is a choice of new pools to choose from when you ding certain vet levels - but they would still need to mimic the incarnate abilities so they are not OP comparatively. In which case, there is no need for this system as 1) you can get all your T4 incarnates in 5-10 vet levels depending on how you play, and 2) it's mimicking what's already in place. And your second option you propose to just ultimately rework your character to different powers, costumes, gender, whatever.... just make a new toon and pretend it's the same person and let them grow.

Thank you! It must be another game I am thinking of.

If I recall correctly, back on live, they had a PVP Server where the Co-op Zones (RWZ, Cim, DA) were PVP zones. I also seem to recall the long-time ask from the PVP community for all zones to be opened as PVP for that server, but it would have been a coding nightmare. I hate PVP and generally ignore whatever when it's mentioned, so I may be misremembering. But I think it would still hold true for now that it would be horrendous to code such a thing. And yeah, I don't see a huge request / need for this as the PVP community seems very tiny currently. I do see a value in the request only for Heroes and Villains finally being able to get those explore and history badges. But again the potential coding nightmare I think outweighs this.

That is a great area. 🙂 The easiest for most is to do the last arc in the "Pandora's Box" Signature Story Arc and farm the 1st mish (contact is the Yaeger in Steel Canyon). Whether teamed or solo, make sure you at x8 and you'll get 30-34 fakes in there. 3 runs of that first mish and you'll have the badge in about 30 mins of time. If you run it solo, set yourself to -1x8, no bosses, and the fakes will spawn as LTs and are easier to kill. Run around, just kill the fakes and move on. It can be tricky for some to survive, but it's doable on all ATs, some just may do it faster than others. Less sturdy characters, may find that area in the Cascades you mention easier, despite taking longer.

I get the concept and reasoning behind this idea, but a hard no from me. As already stated above in this thread, the great thing about this game is that the costume and body provide NO stats or benefit whatsoever, unlike so many other games out there. We are free to make and build whatever it is to our liking without being made to feel bad about sacrificing some extra stat bonuses for our look. And then on the other side, all the min/maxers would look the same - which is also annoying and counter what makes the game so great comparatively. I have a tiny fairy hover TW/WP Brute which is a really fun character to play. By these rules requested, I'd get screwed out of +HPs and +Resists which are sorely needed with WP. Why should someone lose out because of their concept? Additionally, the game is already balanced around power sets. This would require a total rebalancing of the game which would then make some power sets do less in the off chance a player decides to push that slider all the way to one side. Again, a hard "NO" from me.

No. The Hollows does not need a level boost just because someone likes to run a particular mission with a full team at +4. If you did, then you'd have to do that same thing for all the other zones and their story arcs. Just... no. Learn to manage your XP for the content you want to play. Or get friendly with the menders in Ouroboros and learn to use that nifty crystal they have.

You're in your 20s... you're not not going to be uber right now. It gets better gradually as you level up. This is how it is with ALL ATs and powersets. You really don't get good until your 30s and 40s. And that doesn't mean this or any other similar sets are "junk." It just hurts more with Defensive sets as you try to avoid being hit, but when you are hit, you have lower resists so you feel it more. Just like the lower levels, be sure to stock up on purple, orange, and green inspires until you get more powers, more slots, and set bonuses to get your defenses up higher. If you have 25% def to your types now, you are 20% under the soft cap. So, you still have a long ways to go. And you can get there by slotting IO sets for TYPED def (not positional) and taking pool powers like Weave, Maneuvers, Combat Jumping, etc - every little bit helps. Be sure the Gladiator's Armor +3% Def and Steadfast Protection +3% Def special IOs are in your build. Additionally, be sure you slot Energy Absorption for max Def, then Recharge, and if any room left, End Mod. Hitting that as soon as you enter a mob can boost your def very high to get you to and eventually well-over the def softcap. Here is my Ice/Energy Tanker build for your reference. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas of what you can do... Frigid-Dare - Tanker (Ice Armor).mbd Good luck!

I've pointed this out in other threads. It's actually a nice bug in our favor - respec, then zone, and most of your powers are back where you had them in your trays. Let's NOT fix this! 🙂

The Eden Trial needs fixed so that it does reward more than the 7 merits. It was nerfed down to 7 when people found the holes in the walls to TP through and they were doing speed runs. This has been fixed and other things with the trial boosted as well - so the merit rewards should be upped (although, it would still be low considering). In addition, there should be more challenge made to the trial overall to make it reward yet even higher rewards, imo. I'm not on board with your proposal as I don't think a single TF/SF/Trial should be singled out to give extra rewards - but rather instead, fix the trial so that it's naturally worth more. I love the Eden Trial and it just needs some love from the Devs too. 🙂

You can only receive the WST rewards ONCE per character per week for any WST TF/SF/Trial. So if you run a second, third, or more with the same toon, you do not get the bonus double merits for those runs - this includes running Justine Augustine and then running an ITF and then an Op Renault (this week) - even though they are different TFs, they are all WSTs and you only get the double merits for 1 of them and not the other two. However, you do get credit for badges for "helping" others complete the WST while not getting those rewards. 🙂

Many have their own favorites and there are suggestions out there here and there buried threads. However, some search-fu came up with this guide which seems like a good place for you to start....

I don't think swarms give any influence whatsoever for being an underling. Can you confirm you're getting no influence by defeating something else that's within level range and is a minion, LT, boss, or higher?

This would be a nice feature to have again - it was like that back during live - we could just hit enter and move on. Even with how long the game has been back, it's still a weird step for me to separately click the mouse button instead of pressing enter a 2nd time. 😄 But if it's a conscious effort on the Devs to make us use the mouse vs. pressing enter again to keep us from "forgetting" about the ToS/EULA... I'm okay with that. But if the Devs aren't thinking that and/or don't care, then yes, please let us press "enter" to enter! 🙂 ...legally, it's still the same whether we click or press - just as long as we do.

Dull Pain already can cap your HPs and can be perma'd... so I do not see any value in this. Unless you are talking about all granting a Heal buff (more green floating #s above your head) so that when you take damage, you're already healing back more + your natural regen without clicking Heal Self?? As for other options, I agree with others in that absorb or some measure of defense added in would be great - but I recognize that the Devs may not be for either of those. Instead, I can only think that DDR and Resist Debuff Protection added to Resilience would be a huge help. Many skip Resilience, so adding a Def/Resist debuff resistance would also encourage people to take this power (like Grant Cover in Shield Defense which is also often skipped). But also, I think people need to temper their expectations for how to play a regen character - you can't play it like other melee sets or stand still in the center of a mob like you could in the early days of COH. You have to play it like a Blapper - hit hard with melee, but know that you're naked and may have to pop out of melee to let yourself regen some and/or let the DDR cascade dissipate for a few secs before jumping back in. I honestly think this is how a REGEN powerset should be played - although, I recognize many may disagree. But even with this still... I think there is some improvement that can be made to Regen to bolster it while keeping this feel. Although, other than what's been stated here and above, I do not know what else to suggest at this point.

Some LTs and Bosses do, even vampyrs. Not all, though. It seems to be random. You just have to run lots of 5th Column content until you get enough of the transforming soldiers/vampyrs for the badge.

Static electricity / lightning... makes him run fast like the Flash.

This is part of the problem with Villainside - it's easy to run out of contacts. Just do more paper missions, do your bank heist, and then you'll get introduced to a new contact. You can also always tip missions to change or reaffirm your alignment.