Rudra

Some factions get increased mez protection. Like Arachnos (bosses) and Lost I think. Been a while since I played my elec/earth dom, so not sure which factions. I do know that some are more resistant to mezzes though.

Increasing damage is not the answer to everything.

That would be my point. The post-Magisterium arcs do not have Praetorian characters fighting against Praetoria in defense of Primal Earth. You jump from First Ward to Night Ward and then to after the war. There is a continuity there that is not disrupted by the incarnate trials. Until the Praetorian character does the incarnate trials. The chronology for access may be wrong because you can access the post-war content before the war content, but story-wise? You are still a Praetorian fighting for the sake of your fellow Praetorians. The disconnect is when you get access to the incarnate trials. That is what I am referring to. There is no issue with Praetorians getting to 50, or just going through First Ward and then jumping into Number 6's arc or doing the Provost Marchand arc or the Mr. G arc. First Ward was not involved in the war anyway since it is basically the banish zone for citizens the Praetors wanted disappeared but not necessarily murdered. And the Praetorian character is not jumping through logic loops to justify suddenly fighting against Praetoria when moving between those arcs.

And out of those post-Magisterium arcs, how many pit the character against Praetoria as opposed to helping the Praetorians settle into Primal Earth or defend their Last Bastion against Hamidon? Pretty sure the number of those arcs that has the player fighting Praetoria is 0. So no, the horse has not bolted. There is a difference between the trials with their assaults on Praetoria and fighting the Praetors including Tyrant, and the after trial arcs helping the people pick up the pieces of their lives. Edit: If anything, those arcs are in line with the First Ward arcs. Having the player try to help the regular Praetorian citizens survive in difficult circumstances.

Sentinels already exist.

1) Gold side was originally presented as a more difficult option for players as compared to red or blue sides. That was basically the point of making a Praetorian character. 2) If you are referring to the characters I think you are, they are actually AVs. So they are already scaled down as EBs. 3) Praetoria was never actually meant for players to get all the way through the game on. Especially since all the end game content has the players fighting against Praetoria to protect Primal Earth. That said? I'm fine with Praetorian characters being able to get to 50. It's just the transition to dealing with the end game content such as incarnates that has me wondering how to do so without throwing the story out on its ear. 4) 5) The concern here, that I can see, is having the Praetorian characters running against Praetoria in a lot of the 40+ content. It would be nice to be able to team with blue and red side characters though.

Something that would probably help but require a bit of work? Is an additional room in Icon and the Facemaker's that has the various non-faction costumes on display. Or maybe instead of a room full of static displays, have a rotating display in the main room where random costumes are already on display that cycles through the various non-faction specific options. (I hate to take an idea from CO, but this is something CO did in the training centers.) Edit: And by rotating display, I'm not calling for the display itself to have a spinning image, just for it to cycle through available non-faction PAP options.

The brackets are the same as for red side and blue side. Chloe is available up until level 10. Hit 11? She stops being available. The problem is not the bracket size. The problem is how quickly you level gold side compared to red or blue. And that is partially due to the sheer number of ambushes you are not allowed to skip and the increased xp the more difficult foes give.

I like that, except for one thing: Whatever affects mobs affects players too. And players are more than likely to complain when not only do they have to wait out the mez, but now they also have to wait out standing up after the mez wears off further delaying their ability to do anything.

Point is, is that it is already overly easy to outlevel Praetorian contacts while solo. So the xp gain enticement is there. Praetoria is heavy on ambushes and more difficult opponents, so xp gain is already fast. The only way people like me are able to play the content without fear is by turning off xp. Which is not something most teams would be willing to do. So how would you make Praetoria more team-based? The xp gain is already there and is the primary problem in trying to play the content in a cohesive manner. What else could be done? Especially if the goal is the playing of the content with a team. Edit: Adding TFs to Praetoria fails for a few reasons. First, because outleveling content is already a problem in Praetoria, so the TFs would just make it possible to completely miss entire level ranges. Second, because of the way Praetoria is set up, there is very little justification for a large scale endeavor by Powers Division. Hamidon is leaving Praetoria alone as part of his deal with Tyrant. The sonic fences keep any Hamidon (or other external forces in world) out of Praetoria City (all of its sections) lethally. The Syndicate are covert in that they are trying to operate under Tyrant's and the other Praetors' collective gazes. (That's why most of the Syndicate are psychics. They use their abilities to screen their activities from the Seers.) The Resistance is pretty well contained underground where the Ghouls are being released to terrorize and kill them. (And Vanessa Devore uses her psychic abilities to shield all of their minds as well.) Any large scale operations done by the Syndicate or the Resistance is very small scale compared to anything going on in Primal Earth. The Destroyers are a noticed problem, but even they are relatively contained compared to Primal Earth. So what TF could be made that does not break the illusion so carefully maintained by Tyrant and the Praetors of Praetoria being a perfect utopia? Because as soon as anything like what we get for TFs/SFs in Primal Earth were to happen in Praetoria, the lie of Praetoria is exposed. Even the 3 events in the primary zones are specifically low-key and easily dismissed by the populace, contained to a very small area.

Can also just drop an AoE immob on the group after the tanker, brute, or whomever is gathering the aggro gets their attention. No more runners! Yay!

Sounds good to me.

Considering the frustration of runners in the game, I would think being able to pin them down would be welcome for a team.

That did not answer the question. At level 1 with the changes made, you have 4 powers to pick from, 2 primary and 2 secondary. At level 2, you still have 3 available, 2 primary and 1 secondary. So you still have options available and are not "forced" back into taking the T1 secondary everyone advocating for this change was so keen on avoiding and that you cite as the basic problem in the OP. For dominators, that means if you took your hold at level 1, you still have a ST immob and an AoE immob available for keeping foes at bay. Foes that have a single ranged attack and a single melee attack. Some of which lack any real range, like the Shotgun lieutenants of the Skulls and Hellions. (Edit: And most pistol using enemies as well.) So an AoE immob would at least keep enemies at range, forcing them to use their weaker ranged attack. And since it is an AoE, you can even pin down some of those foes outside of their range, forcing them to sit there and glare at you.

Because noone saw this ask coming. Edit: Why not just grab a 2nd primary power at level 2? You have 2 choices there. And then the pool at 4.

Appreciated, but mobs aren't as considerate. (Edit: Keep them looking like the Arachnos units? And we're fine.)

I finished my second edit after your post. Apologies. And yeah, I was already thinking of it latching around an enemy's throat. Edit: Sorry, the as-is for Hell on Earth is for the animation. It would still need to target an enemy and do its own damage. Unless you're feeling sadistic and want to be able to summon the fire imps by using it on a friend....

I wouldn't count Hell on Earth since it is still a summoning attack. Not for a pool set. Unless you strip out the summons. Let MMs keep their signature abilities, specifically their summons. Strip out the summoning aspect of Hell on Earth? Then sure. Edit: Of course, given how this conversation went, why not just play a petless Demon Summoning MM? Edit again: If you really want a new power set from whips? Take the Corruption, Lash, and Crack Whip abilities and make them T1-3 powers. Add Aim as a T4 or 5. Take the Hell on Earth animation, strip the summons, add a reverse energy flow animation to the hell fire animation, and make it a damaging heal like Life Drain for the other T4 or 5. Make some T6 and 7. Use Hell on Earth as is for the T8. And for the T9, a flaming orb appears that the character catches with the whip like with Hell on Earth and rapidly grows it (for the normal T9 activation time) before it detonates. There, a new primary set using whips.

*Imagines a brutish, masked figure dragging a railroad crossing sign on the ground walking up behind a random mob, completely unnoticed, gripping the railroad crossing sign with both hands behind his head as he psyches up and muscles ripple preposterously in strain, then slams the railroad crossing sign down on the poor unsuspecting mob killing it. While on fire with screaming ghosts wailing around it the entire time* ... ... ... Okay, I imagined it. Now what? Edit: 😜

Huh. I was told CoX went archetype because everyone just made flying mage tanks. So the archetypes were added to create some diversity.

It's my understanding that Brutes were the villain tanks. MMs got Bodyguard Mode added after the fact because enemies liked to ignore the MM pets and go straight for the MM. And after Bodyguard Mode was added, MMs became the red side version of tanks. I would love for pet customization, or at least a list of alternate pets for each tier of each set. I would love for more power sets for MM primaries. (Please no spider sets. I like not being terrified of playing the game.)

No thanks. The two upgrades are fine for me. First tier upgrade is advanced training or equipment for the minions. Second tier upgrade comes after I develop specialty/expert training or better equipment than I already had access to. And with Bodyguard Mode, MMs get better damage mitigation than most even with their armors. I get to divide incoming damage 8 ways, take 2 of those, and then apply my damage resist to it? Yep, works great in my book. (Though I do agree with you on the Dire Wolf bit. I just can't think of anything that would make sense as an animal that could be given a ranged attack, would make for a good tank/brute pet, and be part of a pack for the Pack Mentality.)

That's a relief. Was afraid I was going to have to go back and respec most of my characters.

So... stealth got nerfed? My MM won't be able to sneak past mobs any more by virtue of having a stealth proc and shadowfall? That's as frustrating as when they "fixed" Phase Shift.... Edit: Sorry, changed Phase Shift. Since it was never declared a fix that I know of.

Here's an odd thought @PoptartsNinja 's comment gave me. What if Time Bomb worked as it currently does, but also included the Proximity Bomb's delayed triggered detonation when triggering characters move near? So you place your Time Bomb, and it stays there until its timer runs down or enemies move near, at which point it explodes. Edit: Or using Time Bomb triggers a popup power called Trigger on the player that (s)he/it can use to detonate the bomb early. (Yes, it is a valid pronoun. Not all characters made are biological.)