Ignatz the Insane

You need Acc and End reduction in your attacks. Accuracy should be your first priority. Get rid of Range/Sleep/Slow. Your toggles should have End Reduction as well. I'd skip Hasten til later in the build and grab Hover and Flight as well, though that's personal preference. A typical attack for me is Acc, Acc, Dmg, End Reduction, Dmg. Recharge (in that order) if using SOs/generic IOs. This was just a quick flyby, hopefully someone (or myself tomorrow) can be more specific for building with IO sets.

Is there a significant difference in completion times between a +0 and +1 Manticore?

Hmm, definitely gonna try Fire/Rad for my next Sentinel. I had a great time (mostly) soloing Fire/Bio and Electric/Bio. Both used Hover. They were among the easiest solo projects I've ever done for casual difficulties. I settled on +2/+0-4 when I got into the twenties. As far as Influence, you'll get a ton of Reward Merits running solo story arcs, and you'll get plenty of drops along the way. I've done several solo projects that self-funded while leveling. With just those two sources, you should easily be able to afford level 25+ generic IOs by crafting most of the recipe drops, converting, then selling, and/or using the Merits for Converters and selling them on the AH. I'd also frankenslot IOs you find as drops after level 25 or so. If you take a few extra minutes putting in bids for cheap yellow recipes on the AH at the end of your session (just make sure they don't need orange salvage), and about 15 minutes crafting/converting at the beginning of your session, you'll end up a billionaire in your 30s or 40s. Starting this process depends on early drops. A lucky drop gives enough capital to buy more recipes to start. Check out the Market Forum or the Guide section for more detailed advice.

I didn't see this as an attack against all farmers. I'm pretty sure Biostem was talking about new or returning players whose only experience leveling was via AE. This isn't a defense or agreement with their statement, just my own interpretation of their post. I'm sorry your teaming experiences were abysmal. Each person's experiences are unique to them. In this case, however, I think you're attributing malice where none exists.

I don't have any scientific reason to challenge your experiences. But based on my own memory as a longtime forum lurker, and one who 'listens' to all of the public channels in game, the number of people who are anti-farmer are a tiny fraction of the playerbase. Most are ambivalent or uncaring. Some may express...distaste...for some farming activities, but most of those are against AFK farming. The rest simply don't care. On the forums, I can think of two posters over the years who have been xenophobically anti-farming and one of them no longer post here. There have been a number of posters on the forums who've posted concerns or even dislike of farming in general. None but the two I remember actually called for a ban of farming. This idea that there are factions that are against farming isn't based on evidence. It's based on feelings. The truth is far more nuanced than that.

You heard correctly. I've mained a Dark Defender for ages, and this combo became a favorite of mine 'til a change in job and hours (and fantasy football) mucked with my play time. It's a terrific combo but very busy. Almost too busy....I'm not a great gamer.

Maybe you have, but I haven't. I've found nearly every game forum to be quite similar in that they allow even aggressive disagreement, such as this forum, as long as personal insults don't interfere with the discussion. And, of course, that the discussion is on topic. Without that, forums tend to be chaos, with endless bickering. I'm not surprised in the least that some of the Mods got over-aggressive lately. You think they're getting paid to Mod? It's a thankless job with more headache than reward.

Interesting concept. I like the idea of a mage or warlock character. You've focused on an Evocation style character and that's cool. I dig the idea of being able to focus different elemental damage. Sorry you haven't garnered any better feedback, but don't stop fleshing out your idea!

At this point in the game, unless you're a new player, you should be aware how trivially easy it is to accumulate Influence. Sure farming, be even easier is simple marketing. There are a bunch of stories/anecdotes like: I played an Archery/Tactical Arrow character to the low 30s and easily and casually made 1 billion Influence in a week of playing.. Two on my Saturday. It's not hard nor terribly time consuming. Yea, I get it, it's not for everyone. But I have little sympathy for those that simply refuse to take advantage of such an easy path to financial independence.

You're right, sorry about that. It was a foolish question. I did think of this. I think farmers in general are actually good for the economy. What concerns me is the combination of factors I stated in my previous posts. A farmer that frequently power levels alts then kits them out can't possibly earn enough recipes to replace supply. In the past, that hasn't been an issue cuz people like me have been supplementing the supply. And as of today, supply is still good, and prices are stable. But humans being humans, many will look for the path of least resistance and bypass the market altogether and head straight to farming Empyrions and power leveling. It never even occurred to me to farm Empyrion Merits before, and I can see this as something that becomes a widespread pattern. I'll repeat, these are just my thoughts, and I could be wrong.

Almost all of my Reward Merits come from either running solo story arcs or Super Packs. Neither are team-based activities. And at this point I'm no longer playing the Market so I'm no longer adding bunches of desirable IOs. I suspect that's true for a lot of folks who play(ed) the Market. I also suspect that most players are casual types who neither play the Market nor farm for Empyrion Merits. Many of those are content with generic IOs, with perhaps a few Unique IOs thrown in. The players I'm concerned about are those who are both casual and want to fully IO their characters. As players like me wind down our activities, and players like Empyrion farmers ramp up theirs, the supply will dwindle and yes...lead to inflation. At least that's my thinking, but I'm also insane and often wrong.

If you're done with alts, why do you need more Reward merits? At that point money would no longer be an issue. Unless you wish to stockpile for...reasons. If money isn't an issue, you can get an endless supply of Reward merits with Super Packs....and even make a little profit. Granted, it's been a bit buggy now and then and it's time consuming, but no more so than farming. This also has the benefit of seeding the market with ATOs. (Although I get it...it's not very fun after a while). I like farming now and then. I throw on some music and zone out for a while. But it's been a long time since I did so for money or other rewards. I simply don't need them and have no desire to stockpile. I've had around 20 billion for a couple years now. When I make an alt I transfer a pile of money and they're set. By the time they hit 50, I email what's left, which is usually about the same as the original transfer, back into the money pile. Caveat being I usually only power level to 12/17/22 or so and run story arcs and Task Forces. Outside of joining Task Forces, I primarily solo story arcs. Nowadays travel time is a non-issue (for me). At this point in the game, making money is also a non-issue for anyone willing to dip their toes into the Market. It took a week playing an hour or less a day, plus two hours on a Sunday for my last zero Influence seeded character to reach a billion. Mostly by buying cheap yellow recipes and converting them with the Merits I earned from story arcs. This also has the benefit of seeding the Market with desirable IOs, which helps keep prices stable. To reiterate, I spent about 7 hours playing an alt to the low 30s and made a billion influence. On the flip side, say a player is power leveling an alt to 50 and using Empyrion Merits to fund that character. They're buying large amounts of desirable IOs while contributing almost nothing but Converters to the Market. I'm no economist but that seems bad.

This is unfair and untrue. The current devs DO listen and compromise. I don't understand the angst and anger. Like all changes to the current game, I'm gonna shrug and roll with it, even if I have minor disagreements. I love this game, but it's just a game. I also think that the current caretakers have done a decent job. I won't spend one second agonizing any changes they think are needed. I can't imagine being as bitter as you sound over development choices on a game that's free to play.

Sure, I suppose. I just think some folks get too caught up in labels, like 'fighting', in a genre in which mixing and matching disparate powers is quite normal.

Right. Which is what I do. To be clear, I'm not advocating a change...merely disagreeing with the idea that a character need take a punch or kick in order to be tougher and harder to hit, even if it's from a pool power called 'Fighting'. It's entirely possible I'm just a strange cat with strange ideas...but I like to imagine being a bit tougher and harder to hit, beyond primary and secondary powers, that's reflected in a mutation or an improvement on armor.

For what it's worth, curbing power creep is a compelling argument for me. This is not a compelling argument for me. Seems pedantic to me. My Mutant is naturally tougher, no boxing or kick needed. My Technology character's armor makes her tougher, no boxing or kick needed. In this instance, I don't mind 'wasting' a power in order to make my Mutant or Tech character tougher and harder to hit. I could see your argument being more relevant if I'm also taking Cross Punch. Yes, I do run into situations where I have to make difficult power choices, but that's fine.

It's a public subforum called Suggestions & Feedback. I'm assuming that means feedback from the player base, but I've been wrong before. As for my own feedback: While I agree that controllers could use some help with early to mid-level solo play (IMHO), I'm not sure this is the answer (for me). I disagree that AoE holds are useless on low level teams. Yes, the duration isn't an issue, but the mitigation it provides can be valuable. I wouldn't like this change.

This is such a strange complaint. Aren't most secondaries late bloomers on Scrappers?

Also: Heat Loss. Anguishing Cry. Envenom. Freezing Rain.

Um....why? I can't think of a single circumstance in which a flyer character of mine would rather drop to the ground if stunned rather than float around. Kinda baffled by this suggestion.

My biggest problem with some solo claims is they're often made with the assumption of a level 50 fully Incarnated, fully IO'd character doing level 50 content. My Dark Defender for instance is quite capable of soloing level 50 content at max difficulty in respectable times. She's soft capped to all damage and has excellent resistance to numerous damage types. However, when I solo her at lower levels, I need to tune down the difficulty a bit. It's possible to solo +4x8 at lower levels, but it takes for friggin' ever with some enemy groups, which includes generous inspiration use. I imagine it's the same for any squishy character. There is absolutely no comparison to the many Scrappers, Brutes, or Tankers I solo sub 50. Incarnates make a huge difference in solo capability.

There's no doubt that a fully built Blaster (or any character nowadays) is quite sturdy. I have...doubts...that an equally built Sentinel is less durable.

Claws is great. Dual blades is great. So is Energy Melee, War Mace, Titan Weapons, Dark Melee, and Katana (these are the primaries I'm most familiar with). Quibbling over the best for leveling is kinda silly. I've soloed with all of those primaries and they're all solid. My advice is pair one of those with either Willpower or Bio and play every solo arc you can for the Merits. Add in a few TFs (solo or with a team) and you'll level pretty fast while you're piling up Merits. You'll have a couple grand when you're finished. even with 2x XP. Then you just need to decide what to do with the Merits. That question is better answered in the Market forum I guess, but I'd buy cheap yellow recipes in bulk, craft them, and convert to Rares.

You should have stopped here and left out the quotes. I do understand anxiety and get where the ops wife is coming from. In this case however, I think @MTeague is correct. Despite a bit of anxiety, I ventured into the PvP zones on my badger late at night and got all of them unmolested on Torchbearer. I saw exactly one other person and they seemed to be badge collecting themselves and we left each other alone. So, my advice to the op is find a time late in the day and badge hunt on Torchbearer (or another quiet late night server) and you should be fine. Edit: I should note late night for me was after 11pm West Coast time.

It takes a minute or two to open up Long Range Teleport, and a few minutes more to open several other zones. I just don't see this as a problem at all. Once you memorize certain exploration locations it's a breeze.