biostem

Probably roll a new Soldier of Arachnos.

I'd say if he looks like Neo, and his backstory involves him being some sort of resistance fighter from outside The Matrix or such, then yes. Change the look and backstory, and you should be fine.

A lot of the new arsenal control set consists of you lobbing grenades from your AR.

Some become heroes out of a sense of duty or obligation, but not this guy; He quickly learned that if he plays by the rules and only zaps bad guys, he can eat all the junk food and fast food he wants! He may be unkept and smelly, but he's 'The Good Little Gremlin':

The thing is, IIRC, not all enemy groups are spawned until you roughly reach their spawn point, so they use your level to determine theirs. Probably the easiest solution would be to hard-lock enemy level to that of the initial mission itself.

You need to take into account the recharge bonus from slotting recharge enhancements in the powers, then the rest comes from things like the luck of the gambler global recharge IOs + the smaller recharge bonuses you can get from slotting certain IO sets.

Unless it specifically says you can only slot 1 of a specific enhancement, there's a general "rule of 5" in effect, where you will only ever receive the bonus from 5 instances of a particular bonus. Please also note that, for instance, a 5% bonus and a 5.1% bonus are separate buffs, so you could have 5 of each.

Yes, I was being sarcastic, but to bring up a point; A MM's pets are, for lack of a better analogy, their attacks. They each have their own pools of HP and endurance, and can attack regardless of whether the MM is mezzed or out of range. Could those pets use some love with regard to their fragility or the annoyance that is having to micromanage and upgrade them, or how the T1s being -2 levels means they are -6 to enemies when you are at +4, sure. Does this mean they should get the benefits of the upgrade without having to take the upgrade powers, no. Turning the existing upgrades into optional auto-powers that allow the pets to be instantly upgraded seems like a good compromise, IMHO...

Each MM pet upgrade is literally 3 or more new powers you get for only 1 power pick and essentially requires no slotting to get the most out of, (since they benefit from the slots in the actual pet summon power, not the upgrade). Maybe we should require MMs to use a power pick for each and every power they want their pets to get, since every other AT must do that as well.

Roll a necro/dark, only take the dark blasts, upgrades, and the lich. Have the backstory that your character was some high school/college edgelord who was infatuated with some long-lost magic-used, and the culmination of their efforts was being able to summon said magic-used, (now a lich), who has nothing but contempt for them. maybe include some binds to have the lich say unflattering things to said MM as you're fighting...

The only way to have this work would be for either the leader to shut off XP during the actual mission or to perhaps change the leveling system so your "new" level is only reflected once you actually train up. Alternatively, someone could run ahead and spawn all the enemies before defeating any, so their levels are set.

If you want the widest margin of survivability and general ease of play, I'd go with a tank. They really don't give up that much damage and you'll be warmly welcomed on teams later, (if you choose to team later, of course). From a general fun standpoint, I prefer sentinels. I feel like they can just about do it all, but require a bit more tweaking of your build and more care when selecting pool or other such ancillary powers. Still, they get some of the best versions of the various armor sets and their APPs/PPPs, (Ancillary or Patron power pools, respectively), provide some quite interesting options. If you want to live more on the edge but want maximum damage output, go with a blaster. The devices or tactical arrow secondaries provide some good tools if you want want to strictly stay at range. If you are comfortable with, or have an interest in learning about the various binds/macros and slash commands, give Kheldians a try, though I suggest sticking with a tri-form, (human, Nova, and Dwarf). If you want to essentially be your own team leader, but don't want to mess around with masterminds, give a "Crabbermind" a try, (basically a soldier of Arachnos taking all the pet summon powers and toggles that buff them).

Tough one, but here goes: 1. My dark blast/super reflexes sentinel, "Lithe Spectre". She's probably the first character I fully kitted-out with IOs and went to T4 Incarnates with. It's a fun combo and quite effective. 2. My "Crabbermind" named "Agent Aurum" - Very powerful and fun to play. 3. This one is a tie between my Bio Armor/Savage Melee and Radiation Armor/Savage Melee tanks, both named "Megalo Don", (shark themed, on 2 different server). Both are very powerful and nigh indestructible, but each have their own quirks and strengths/weaknesses. I think the look is what really elevates this/these characters. 4. A sort of Batman/The Shadow homage named "The Umbral Hawk", a dual pistols/ninjitsu sentinel. Fun to play and very stylish. 5. An earth control/pain domination controller named "Ana L'Gesia" - Neither the most powerful nor the most durable character out there, but fun to play on teams and quite flashy to boot!

Do... do you realize the irony of this statement?

Irrelevant; Powers are part of a set. My point is that these sets synergize internally. Skip powers at your own peril. In the greater scope, what these suggestions really boil down to is "I want more powers so gimme!".

But they kind of have to now, anyway; If they don't take their status protection power, they aren't going to be very effective. If they don't take one of their armor powers, they won't be as durable as they would otherwise. Heck, many sets with a click status protection power aren't permanent right out the gate - so they have to invest in extra slots in order to reduce the recharge so they're always protected. But let's turn it around - I wish my non-MMs could attack from multiple sources simultaneously without costing them any end. Why should my non-MMs have to invest in end redux or other end-mitigation tools because they're constantly bottoming out their blue bar, while all those MMs just spend a little end to summon their pets and can just sit back and let them do the attacking?

Can we also bake the effects of all the armor toggles into just 1, so it'd free up some power picks for every melee AT as well? 🙄

The monstrous glove options are basically that. The issue, though, is having to provide alternate animations that use an open-hand swipe animation. These kind of exist in savage melee, but I don't know if said animations could be ported over 1:1.

I have a 50 bio/savage and rad/savage tank. They both have their pluses and minuses, but I love savage melee on both.

Maybe buff supremacy based upon the difficulty setting the mission is set to. Also, perhaps, provide a slightly longer period of invulnerability when pets are first summoned.

I would argue that claws are a specific outlier with regard to a "no-weapon" suggestion, since they are integrated into your character's anatomy in a way that is different than other weapon sets. that being said, (and unless I'm misremembering), the current claws animations actually have your character using a closed fist, since the claws extend from the back of their hand, beyond the reach of said closed fist(s). Maybe we could get a claws weapon model option that is a sort of "claw cap" that fits over the existing hand geometry but has the appearance of an open claw...

I could be wrong, but I believe there was an intention at one point to move all "regular" jetpacks over to the jetpack category. Also, I think, besides the flame effect, the other jetpacks don't animate like the Goldbricker one does. Going back to my previous comment, I similarly believe the toga has its own category because it is a single piece that encompasses multiple costume slots.

IIRC, the toga connects to both the top and the waist/upper leg area, which is why it's unique. The jackets or robes with tails don't cover the same area - they just hang down.

And that's the crux of the entire argument - there are sets that lean much more strongly to team play, and those that are better for soloists, and that's a good thing; Allow players to determine what sets they will play based upon their own preferred playstyle, instead of trying to shoehorn sets into a solo-friendly functionality.

Nice moving the goalposts there. Fort & CM, if castable on yourself, are better than many armor sets, and that's not counting the 2 RAs you already have available.