Wobegone

Picard would have compromised and turned off Group Flight. Easy decision too.

My last two characters took about 30 hours each, mostly solo story arcs and a mix of solo and team TFs. Double xp. I used a few Experienced bumps in the 40s. I usually run at +2/x1-5.

Howling Twilight is -500% regen. Twilight Grasp is actually a huge heal and it's an AoE focused on you, it also does minor -regen. I'd drop Soul Transfer or Evasive maneuvers to keep both. I'd use only two slots for Tar Patch (50+5 recharge). You could save another two slots by cutting two from Fearsome Stare. The slots you save I'd use to pump Twilight Grasp. If you're slot poor I'd frankenslot the two accurate healing sets. It needs accuracy. I'd 6 slot Fireball. (On second thought, I only have 5 slots: Three Scourging Blast and two Frozen Blast).

Everything you need for Incarnates come from drops, rewards, or leveling. So best advice, as above, is play your 50 a bunch.

Discussions about power leveling and farming are rarely about individual experienced players. I think with a handful of exceptions, the cummunity at large doesn't give a hoot how you play. It's not personal even if it seems so. Again, with the caveat that there are a few posters who are more absolute in their disregard for farming and power leveling. Most of the concern I see is about new players being power leveled. But when is a player still new? For my part, I'd never advocate someone power leveling their first character. How about the second, or third? For at least the first few times around, it's worth leveling organically for myriad reasons. I can only think of a very few reasons why someone wouldn't. There IS something to learning powers as you go., especially the first few times around. For me, it's an all time thing. I much prefer to level organically. Yes, when I hit the late thirties on, I wish I could speed it up a bit, but til then, I love testing each power while leveling. Leveling story arcs and TFs is still really fast. And I get it. I've been through the leveling process hundreds of times. The few characters I have power leveled, most into the mid thirties, sat on the bench forever. Oh, I'd maybe look at slotting and try a respec, maybe even buy a bunch of IOs. It just didn't work for me. I doubt I'm alone. The same goes proportionally for new players.

Sadly, the GMs are human, with the same flaws and virtues as other humans. Fortunately, the GMs for Homecoming are more virtuous than flawed. Or so I believe.

Agreed. Ice/Radiation sounds great for solo play. I also like Ice/Force Field. Not as powerful against hard targets, but extra defense, knockdown, and some mez protection., so, much safer. A Fire Blast/Trick Arrow hover blaster sounds pretty nifty. I've also been leveling a Storm Blaster. Storm is great for extra knockdown, and has some Dots, so should do well on a Corruptor. Maybe Storm/Storm or Storm/Time? Lots of options.

The open Beta Feedback threads show just the opposite. The Devs not only listened, but frequently responded directly. They listened. Then decided. Any decision will have some who are happy, some who are not. I think there is some truth to this with Hardmodes. But what if the Devs already wanted Hardmode? Easy decision. As for the rest of the changes, they clearly have a vision for what they want their game to look like. So far, I've been happy with most of the changes. Hell, my only complaints are quibbles. I'm sorry you don't like the direction the game is going.

I was gonna post earlier and thought it was silly but now I secretly hope you decided on a 'Back to Basics'' run and did the original Positron.

Shoot, after reading your reply and rereading mine, I came off as far more aggressive than I felt while typing it. Sorry 'bout that. That post definitely was a me problem. There's a certain cadre of players who have such an intense sense of entitlement directed towards the Devs it makes my teeth hurt. You're generally mild in comparison, but you imply a great deal about what the Devs can/should or can't/shouldn't do. You say repeatedly that you understand they are volunteers and I believe you when you say you appreciate the work they've done...but you don't seem to take into consideration their time constraints. What's their commute like, do they have a physically or emotionally demanding job, do they have a family... Running Homecoming up to now was more of a hobby than a job. Hell, not more of...it is a Hobby.

How are you in any position to agree or disagree about what the Devs can or cannot do? You think they can manage it just fine you say. How the heck do you know? Because it's your opinion? If you have more technical knowledge to impart, you should let the Devs know. Your arguments are pointless and self-centered, filled with conjecture based on what you want and what you expect. There's a kind of hubris to your posts...like you deserve the changes you want, and the Devs are there to serve your desires. Just my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

When I first read it, I loved the idea. Thought it could really help say....a group of friends who wanted to try the game out. There is strength in diverse teams, especially early mission/TF teams filled with players who can't afford SOs. Several of the objections have been from the viewpoint of level 50 characters, including fully kitted and incarnated ones arguing about what 'role' they can or should play. These objections are irrelevant for TFs filled with unslotted or poorly slotted teams. And going by what my friends have said when I mentioned playing as a group; most don't want to bother with complexity, at least not right away so SOs and generic IOs appealed to them. So much of the joy of my early experience with this game was a tank taking agro, a controller controlling, a scrapper and blaster focusing down bosses and lts. And a defender...bubbling? It didn't take my early group of friends long to realized that there was more to a defender than healing. My first 50 was a bubble Defender. I'm guessing new players here will also figure that out as they (hopefully) play different alts. Yes, I get it, a fully kitted out level 50 is significantly more durable even in the lowest level TFs. Most of the rest of the objections have been people concerned about team leaders requiring such and such. And they're right. I'm guessing there'll be a bunch of speed Yin TFs daily chasing the reward...which is not unlike what we already have. I doubt it will affect much beyond that after a time. I'm not gonna worry about team makeup when I join a TF. Are you? I'll take the occasional happy accident reward thank you, and never give it another thought. For my part, I think the idea is neat. But in the end, tweak it, pull it, or put it out as is....I don't feel any personal angst no matter the decision.

It's always a bit perplexing to me just how personally some people take nerfs...in any game. Especially ones that are 20 years old. Maybe let it go? Seems like a waste of emotional energy.

High end Blasters are sturdy enough to smash spawns with impunity much of the time, but they have never exceeded Sentinel survivability on the surface, below the surface, or above the surface. I understand you were more conveying that Blasters in today's game can be built to be incredibly durable. I agree. So can any other AT.

As of now you're correct, it's not against the rules, although it sure appears to be a gray area to me. It becomes a problem though if there are enough afk MMs around that xp rewards for leagues is greatly reduced. There's no way to avoid them unless the entire league decides to move to a new area not populated by a bunch of afk MMs. So perhaps it should be against the rules. If you're multi-box afk, you're not in a league. As far as rewards, any damage you do is for yourself, not the league. You're actually leeching xp from the League to yourself. You're also not contributing you're secondary. Especially if you're parking your afk MMs above the fray. Why the hell would I be envious of something I can easily do myself? No, that's not it. I'm pretty sure it's because if there are enough of you, you're leeching xp from the league. Good advice. You wanna afk farm? Go for it. Don't care. If players are noticing significant xp drops because the xp is being divided by one league and a bunch of (or teams of) afk MMs, then there's a problem with your play style in that it affects other players. For the sake of argument: If you logged on and joined a ToT league, dropped your pets and set an auto power, and then spent an hour doing something else while your MM got some rewards, I personally wouldn't have a problem. At least then your damage would contribute to the league. And you would benefit from their damage. If you're just parking a bunch of MMs and leaving them afk for an indefinite amount of time, you're just leeching. That most certainly lacks etiquette. If you don't give a shit about etiquette, then I question your character, not your play style.