Doomguide2005

Well first off welcome to the game! Currently I can't use Mids' or get in the game, computer died. But otherwise when I can after work I'll take a look and offer what I can.

Hmm can't test or use an analyzer currently but I'd be concerned about Longbow, Arachnos and Resistance mobs (off the top of my head). They definitely use +To Hit powers and I wouldn't assume some of those also don't include +perception as well, effectively countering some amount of Stealth if not a stealth debuff per se. If it works like the hard caps for defense/to hit then the game tracks values over the cap, applies the mods, before the result reaches its final "capped" value. The final net value must be greater than 0 for you to be 'seen'. Nevermind mobs like Rularuu Observers and Drones etc..

Yes from what little I know and can reread in the Wiki if your threat level is 0 then you generate 0 threat and are going to be at the bottom of a given foes "threat list". Highest on that list draws their aggro. But, and it's a big but, the mechanics were poorly understood on Live and I believe here on HC that remains true among the player base.

Ahh thanks, never recalled doing it on Stoney etc. ... MM pets maybe (or I am just dreaming perhaps).

Do they (Tornado in particular given what @Uunposted above) show up in the pet window? If so can you use the inspiration there?

And last but yet unmentioned that I could see there's Enhancement Boosters. Unless all your +defense enhancements are all boosted to +5 you might eke out that last 0.5% with boosting stuff. I probably wouldn't lose any sleep on it however ... just mentioned for completeness sake.

Assault if you can apply -resist (like with Sonic) will net even more damage effectively than the base for everyone in Assault's AoE.

No you don't with Illusion but you do have PA and Phantasm both of which draw aggro strongly. Perma PA is what I'd look for first, defense would be next. Once you get Regen Aura you will be very sturdy and I'd also be building up tesistance. Both perma PA and Empathy do well using recharge. That said for solo work check out a thread about an Emp/Fire/Soul solo vs +4/×8 ITF, successfully completed, in the defender forums . The build has very strong defenses (and resistances). It would be harder to do on a controller owing to AT mods but the slotting should provide lots of raw ideas to work from. Most recently I believe the build was posted by Linea in the thread titled "The Modern Empathy Defender"

-defense is good for the number of procs it can use. -resist is good because it not only increases your damage but all the damage the debuffed foe is taking. -defense as a means to make things easier to hit is almost worthless in the end game. 1) it is heavily resisted by +4 foes and even more so by AVs in generally (purple patch and AV resistances) and 2) most characters in the endgame build to be able to reliably hit +3/+4 foes. Generally if an endgame foe is hard to hit buffing the teams To Hit is a much more effective choice.

I'd second the vote for Kin on a farm build (with the caveat that I don't farm). Cold has some very strong debuffs but Benumb is single target. And its buffs (shields) don't effect the user. No self heal. Rads toggles while nice and now continue to work after the anchor dies are slow to apply each mob. With Kin the buffs, the important ones while solo effect you (FS, Siphon Speed, etc) and you have both a heal and +end powers. Pick your farm and build for those defenses and resistance needed against those mobs. As for the blasts Kin can allow you to go heavy with procs while not loosing the damage that's not proc based (thank you FS). Water though not very familiar to me has the AoE's as well as having -defense to help hit your targets. And no I believe the consensus is Rain powers are generally poor choices for procs. Edit: the line in Mids is probably the baseline ... the starting point. To account for debuffs which could reduce your recharge. The cap is 500% (+400%) which even for a Kin is pretty close to impossible to hit solo. Outside buffs are pretty much a give to do that. Damage cap is also 400% on corruptor iirc. A Kin can manage to cap their own damage

Interesting. Once I can get back online First Ward/Night Ward are high on my to do list. Got a feeling of deja vu atm as computer death/ life forced me out of game around the time those zones were introduced and hearing seeing lots of good things about the content. Got vague recollections of taking a peek on my main and going whoa wow upon seeing the Seed.

Compared to early issues more like extremely fast. There's also selections in your Options window for things like turning off xp gain.

Yes and it's a wonderful problem to have, a "gee I have a bazillion dollars what to spend it on?" problem. So yes especially where it concerns my favorite(s) I'll make use of our multiple builds. There's a whole lot of potential options ... exemplar friendly, solo vs team, damage vs mitigation vs recharge builds, specially built for s specific challenge (thinking about my i19'ish Empath build for RWZ challenge) and on and on.

And the Guides section has a pinned thread by Trickshooter listing each Issue (Chapter) starting from the very beginning called The Guide to Issues aka "When did they change/add that?" And the forums as well as the in game chat are full of returning folks who like you had a 7 or more year hiatus and needed a reminder themselves after first arriving. There's also two Wikis now, the original which was frozen at the state of the game at Sunset (but still quite good for many many things) and a new HC Wiki for things "now" on HC Welcome back!

Yep, my /SR scrapper has been terrorized a few times. Note that Taunt, Placate and Repel are also "holes", though I don't recall ever being effected in PvE by any of them. Assault provides resistance to taunt and placate. Tactics as mentioned provides protection against Confuse, but is slightly unclear in the Wiki if it provides protection against Fear as well (part of it seems to say yes, part indicates only resistance to Fear as well as Confuse and perception debuff). My /SR scrapper is usually running Tactics but I can't say with any certainty if it was on when I became Terrorized. Or maybe the mag simply exceeded the protection and resistance at the time ... no idea there.

Or tweak the durations of the debuffs

Longer answer, they don't want to for any of a large number of reasons. Including liking Empathy more. Not thinking the difference is enough to matter, thinking Empathy is superior in some way. Preferring Thermal. Don't want to play a redside villain reformed or otherwise. Don't like what Pain Domination implies. Etc., etc.. And none of the above really addresses my first paragraph. And the second mostly relates to how potent those buffs are. There's nothing in essence 'wrong' with the Empathy set when an 8-man all Empath team can produce those numbers. The problem isn't in Empathy per se but more a side effect of end game conditions in which AoE is king whether in attacks, buffs or debuffs crossed with highly self sufficient high end builds. The more removed from leagues of 50+3, t4'd builds the more Empathy's utility will increase. And if more than a trace of those min/max optimized builds are melee/non-support then while the components might be maxed the league most certainly isn't.

I rarely if ever farm, particularly when playing an AT, set or sets I've never (or rarely) played in 'normal' content. But I do run AE story content, contact/story arcs, TFs, street sweep, etc., for variety as the mood strikes. Even when I do farm/grind it's rarely in a traditional AE farm way. I'll just rerun thru Ouroborous some of the same 'normal' content as there is simply a lot of it in the game blueside. Often ran the old Posi TF in a duo on Live for merits. Personally I'm most strongly motivated by Merit rewards. But even then maxing the return is low on the list. If I speed through a TF it's because I enjoy the challenge of doing so not because it might max my time vs reward metrics. I don't think increasing rewards is going to change in any fundamental way how people play and level unless those rewards create an imbalance (i.e. a new problem/issue) of their own as a result.

Solid conceptually, thematic and definitely worth exploring. How would you handle Siren's Song? A DoT effect on a sleep is obviously problematic. I assume it would just be added as an effect to individual powers as appropriate rather than the set as a whole.

Nope that's part of Nerf /Friday ... although maybe we can nerf Friday by allowing any day to Nerf/Regen 😁

Short answer ... for the same reason 'you' aren't. Long(er) answer will have to wait as real life calls.

As for Empathy in the end game and Incarnate content I think in part it is related to the predominately single target ally focused nature of the set. Only Healing Aura, Recovery Aura and Regeneration Aura can effect multiple allies. Quite arguably only Regeneration Aura is significant in this content. You combine that with the fact that pretty much no single character is truly vital (whether dead or godly buffed) to team/league success then no matter how potent a single target buff is it is rendered relatively insignificant you render Empathy less significant as a result. That said multiple Empaths operating together especially /Sonic's GM-style ... well look out they are going to leverage those single target buffs. A full team of Incarnates will be well beyond the I-cap defensively (+90%ish), at the hard cap for damage (+400%), at the -resist floor (-300%) against single target(s) of choice and things heavily -resist in general --> you can take a crack at what that means for crashless nukes going off every spawn. Likely approaching the recharge cap in powers, at the AT resist caps and at the hard cap for regeneration (+2000%), absurd quantities of +recovery etc., etc.. There's a reason such a grouping is called a Superteam.

An AT whose primary is focused on buffing allies and/or debuffing foes paired with a blast secondary with debuffs. Owing to AT modifiers those buff and debuffs are typically the strongest in the game. When found in groups approach with extreme caution until friendliness is determined as teams composed of only defenders are among the strongest team compositions in the game owing to the force multiplication of said buffs and debuffs.

While @Nemuand I obviously don't agree with the conclusion @Peacemoon I do understand where you're coming from. Thanks. Seems like it's a combo of Clarion, everyone having capped defense (no hit no mez), the addition of the Sorcery pool, the ease in defeating mobs, and dilution when the mezzed target is one of 16+ (or basically from the team view point almost no one is really missed by being non-functional for a brief bit (even if it seems like an eternity to that player) leading to its devaluation overall.

Depends on your build. Posting it would be a good next step.