Doomguide2005

Not sure it's intended but it won't account for bonus xp for mission completion which if your burning through newspaper/radio missions is a big chunk of your total xp.

Yeah cheaty Rularuu with their +100% To Hit buff kind of make the idea of defense irrelevant. But yes SR's DDR is what allows you to wade into mobs of +4 Cimerorans and know that getting debuffed is not what kills you so don't neglect it.

If I'm following you correctly you are right, they are components and are used when you create additional boosts in the tree.

Triage Beacon--> I generally take/took it on my Trappers. But yes the stationary aspect is a strong downside. That said I also think it's getting some undeserved hating on. 150% is the base unenhanced value for one Beacon. For an immobile fight vs an AV. Getting two enhanced Beacons cast for ~+600% regen is not difficult or inconsequential in such a fight. Seeker Drones --> suffers from the same problem a lot a -damage powers suffer from namely being under appreciated. The potential debuff here is over 50% only slightly less than the total debuff from Poisons Weaken plus Venomous Gases and safely exceeds Darkest Night. It is an excellent Alpha breaker. Time Bomb --> okay now here's the real winner (yes your sarcasm meter just went bonkers). Web Grenade --> sue me, I like making idiot runners like Rommy sit still. But it only takes a slot or three to scratch that itch.

Maybe I've been out of the game too long but don't the bosses etc typically have unique names you could bind and or macro? Still be able to do this by rank would be useful when encountering a mob type for the first time. Like running in Night Ward for the first time, for example when those names aren't yet general knowledge and not listed out anywhere). Something tells me thou that it's not as simple as it sounds.

If you are talking about the Cyclops and Minotaurs I believe they have some base energy resistance. They also have Unyielding and Unstoppable powers which provide more resistance, defense and mez protection. The bosses and Lts also possess powers such as Shout of Command (a Clarity/Clear Mind like power) which can effect allies and Phalanx Fighting which buffs their defense to all but psi. So yes as @rolekiput it a interacting bouillabaise of effects that make seeing the real culprit(s) difficult.

Aye the variety is good (both taunt Auras and lack thereof in Scrappers). I'm not particularly concerned about being an off tank or keeping runners from ... running. Except maybe idiot AVs like Rommy. I've got both Focus and Shockwave which means they usually end up eating dirt 'over there' vs at my feet anyway or since my Shockwave doesn't have a kb to kd IO sometimes it just sends their backsides flying into the next spawn as I follow them. If it's a single tough target well I'm a Scrapper I will have their attention though I'd hesitate to call that 'tanking' per se 😜

No a gazillion times no. Taunt aka Aggro should definitely not be unlimited for reasons spelled out in numerous other threads on the topic. Tweaked values I'm personally against as well but at least the merits or lack of are something that could be discussed (and have been).

I'm going to guess the most likely reason is differences in the target, most likely owing to mez resistance of the target which in turn will vary depending on which powers are currently active on the target. That's about the only way the duration of the holds is going to effected to the point where the duration is going to be shortened to make stacking the necessary mag difficult (outside of any consideration of PToD). The base durations even after the purple patch are 1) too similar and 2) too lengthy to make stacking problematic unless those durations are being further effected by the targets mez resistance. Mez protection might also play a role but my experience says that's more like moving the goal posts of how much mag you'd need to stack before seeing any difference. Basically are you seeing this occur specifically against the same EB or random EB's for an overall feel there's a difference between your sets. Even Tesla Cage while slower you are still talking only about a second difference between it and Char the fastest hold cycle time while looking at durations of 20+ seconds (assuming some actual enhancement of the hold) duration. What does your ingame stats say about the duration and recharge of the holds in question? Edit: one indirect difference might be Ice controls -recharge which won't directly effect any hold it will cause any mez protection or mez resistance powers on cooldown to take what to a player would seem like forever to recharge therefore leaving the target vulnerable to stacking for a longer period. Likewise there's an Afraid in Arctic Air a foe busy trying to flee isn't going to be casting any mez resist or protection powers.

Indeed, if my scrapper (Claw/SR/Body) isn't controlling the aggro it isn't because she was dead or dying. It was probably because someone with Taunt or a Taunt aura was on the team OR someone else was doing silly amounts of (likely AoE) damage such as a well played and incarnated Blaster. Sure as hell wasn't cause she couldn't handle the damage.

Power Analyzer Or how my Claws/SR learned just how Rularuu Eyeballs were seeing her (despite SS+Stealth IO) and Devouring Earth we're cutting her apart despite capped defenses ... yeah +100 To Hit will do that.

I think your last bullet point is very much on point when concerned with Recovery specifically. The difference between "I'm sucking wind constantly and can attack all out while fighting Clockwork" is a small amount. The exact amounts vary depending on build, AT etc. but it's still rather narrow band compared to the upper limit. The actual upper limit is, like many of the game's limits, well beyond character needs 99.99% of the time. The lack of relevancy (of the limit) is why an Empath, for example, really has no need to use Endmod in Recovery Aura. It's base buff of 200% is already a massive boost to recovery. Stamina by comparison is 25%. Miracle+Numina's+enhancement won't even hit 100% and while it's not swimming in end recovery it is sufficient for many.

I'm going to leave most commenting to others. I'm quite out of touch unfortunately with the specific Incarnate abilities since I haven't dealt with it much since my computer died as several of my HC characters reached 50+. The only thing I'll point out is unlike most powers is while you can use only one of a given ability at a time you can have as many as you want unlocked and switch around as desired without need for a 2nd or further builds. Edit: PS, there is a short cooldown involved swapping around, for example, between Barrier and Clarion Destiny abilities as I understand it but you can unlock both and have either available or even leave it unslotted.

It would be my Fire/Energy from Live. She was my first to 50 on SOs. And because of her the question of which blaster I would keep even has meaning. Or then again maybe it would be my AR/Dev/Mun. Leveled to 50 as part of a static team of friends in the early days of IOs. Enjoying the insanity of minefields only a 5-man team can lay, then pulling entire multi-tiered rooms of foes into them. Or my current favored blaster an Electric/Fire AoE monster in his late 20's before my computer died. Really want to hit 50 and fully IO and Incarnate this one. Yep definitely one of these three. Which ... hmmm, do I gotta pick one?

I'll echo what Werner, Sovera and Tidge are saying. That said the short not so helpful answer is enough so you aren't being overly frustrated by your results. And the long answer is complicated. Start with the above posts, then read up in the HCwiki for more info starting with the article "Attack Mechanics". Then come back and ask more questions.

In general I use Preventative Medicine in one power and then either Doctored Wounds or Panacea in the remainder as I'm chasing global recharge bonuses. Doctored Wounds is the less expensive option. For AB I'm enhancing the Heal => i.e. its regeneration value. Since regen is a reactive response you can't really have too much. You absolutely benefit most by recovering what you lost as rapidly as possible making it more likely the next blow has as much health as possible to soak the damage of the next blow(s). One proc I haven't been able to try out owing to my unforseen hiatus is Gaussian's. Specifically in Fortitude or Soul Drain. The idea of controlling the timing of the proc rather than the randomness of slotting in Tactics obviously has appeal since I can trigger then nuke. Speaking of Tactics (and procs) since I always run Tactics on my Empaths and do so relatively early (24th or earlier) I do not use Kismet +6% like I do quite often on many other builds As for being an endurance hog, yes it can be an issue for an offender Empath when your Recovery Aura is on cool down. But that's one reason I strongly chase global recharge. Getting those Auras on minimal cooldown helps tremendously. With your Auras running even with no defense you've got a lot of sources of potential mitigation to add on top (inspires, teammates, mez powers, epic shields, your own heals). Just as an aside I typically try to match or come very close to having the same cooldown time on my Auras. It's one less thing I need to watch closely. If one Aura is ready the other is or is about to be and I can cast them one after another then continue buffing and blasting.

Myself I'd 5 slot Panacea in AB for the 7.5 global recharge in the 5th slot. I used to drop an Endmod in the 6th slot but since Nukes no longer crash no longer really need it. The most valuable thing about AB you can't enhance --> its +100% recharge boost. Back later, lunch over

Plant/TA should do quite well especially after TAs recent improvements.

I'd have to read up a bit about Power Transfer (and the other new Endmod sets, I haven't been able to get in game since those came out). But for the others: Miracle and Numina's are what they call Proc 120's. This means they work for 120 seconds after the power is activated. In a toggle or auto power they renew themselves every 10 secs. In a click power, they'll work for 120 seconds after you click the power to activate it. So in Healing Aura or Heal Other you need to keep clicking them at least every 120 seconds for the bonus to be 'perma'. Same thing if in one of your other Heal enhancement accepting powers (AP, RegenAura or AB). Obviously unless you have something to target that will make all of them problematic if no allies or pets you can target whenever needed or can't get the recharge that low for RegenAura) Then again you're an Empath your Auras should be making those buffs fairly redundant unless your build has rather long cooldowns on your Auras (solo with high defense investment, minimal global recharge etc.) Preventative Medicine proc functions a little oddly but as I understand it you don't have to use the power it just does its thing. And again never used Power Transfer on a character (computer died) to date. But largely they are redundant bonuses (the +recovery and +regeneration, +absorb) for an Empath and not nearly as beneficial as on your average melee or blaster character. PS: I typically drop Miracle in Health and Preventative Medicine in HA. I probably wouldn't worry about Power Transfer since once Incarnated my cool down is under 30 seconds on the Auras and I already have multiple 7.5% recharge from Panacea. Numina's gets skipped outside of solo builds ... I'm all about recharge. Actual defense is incidental.

You don't need to. A level 50 Celerity stealth IO is a "proc 120" and will work at any level as long as the power it's in is not grayed out. So drop it in Sprint and it'll work. It is a good idea to slot it in a Sprint you are willing to toggle off when you don't want the stealth for hostage or other escort work. Edit: Gratz on 50 and next time round up the entire map of AVs (I've been wanting to do this) ... all of them and obliterate them. Your capabilities in that mission makes our current fully t4'd Incarnated characters look like kindergarteners by comparison. I don't think you can lose the fight even if you tried, you could Brawl them all to death/defeat (probably blindfolded with one hand shackled to your feet)

A few thoughts and personal opinions. They are attacks so yes slot them first and foremost as such, i.e. for damage, endurance reduction, accuracy, recharge just like you would for any other blast set. I like 5 slotted Decimation (for the global recharge bonus). I did have a build where I dropped an Endmod IO in the 6th slot. I even created a build that didn't leave Mids using the Tempest - end The end drain works 100% of the time. The recovery debuff and endurance return are both <100% chance (varies by blast). Owing to computer issues I haven't looked into the new Endmod sets in particular the procs. With set IOs you can slot Short Circuit for both damage and endmod. 3 Armageddon and 3 Endmod set. I never looked into FotG -resist ☹ but I'm thinking you could likely squeeze that in as well. And yes, big yes to Musculature it'll both increase drain and damage in all your blasts. Edit: As eluded to I've not been able to try the new Endmod sets which enhance both endmod and damage so yeah absolutely enhance for both damage and endmod in Short Circuit.

IO --> Invention Origin and this subdivides into set IOs and generic IOs. ATO --> Archetype Origin SO --> SIngle Origin DO --> Dual Origin TO --> Training Origin HO --> Hamidon Origin SHO --> Synthetic Hamidon Origin Just some of the alphabet soup used when talking about various sorts of enhancements. TO, DO, and SO enhancements are what the game used initially back in the day. You can now have SOs slotted into your powers from the beginning whereas it used to be you couldn't start slotting SOs until you reached level 22 in general. The only exception back in i3 when I started was if you defeated an AV (or GM?) they would drop one that you could potentially slot pre 22 as a reward and generally this only occurred at the of a TF (again a few exceptions existed, Dr. Vahzilok comes to mind). You can do just fine using just SOs on the ride to 50 learning and experiencing your character and their 'build' and using other enhancement types as you go. Snarky and others have mentioned some of the complications ... but it's a game so enjoy and learn as you go. We've all been there. It's really, really hard to mess up bad and very easy through respecs and unslotters to fix any errors you make. My main has been rebuilt and tweaked so often she probably looks like a mass of scars 😜

Overall I think a lot of confusion is generated by the difference between talking about how the set bonuses behave over a range of character levels and how the enhancement values of the individual aspects (endred, damage, recharge, accuracy etc.) of the power work over a range of character levels. Attunement is worrying about the set bonuses over a range of character levels while boosting is being concerned with the values of individual aspects (endred, damage, recharge etc.) of a power. Keeping the set bonuses as you exemplar is generally much more important to the builds function than how much the individual enhancement values are effected as you exemplar down lower and lower.

For me it begins with stealth. You have enough between Steamy Mist and Celerity stealth IO. This lets you pick and choose when, where and who to attack. Next I'm typically looking at either moving behind cover and taking advantage of Earth's and Storm's ability to lay patches around cover with no exposure to return fire. I'm more likely to take this tack when either solo or on a team that's struggling with their difficulty setting. Or with faster moving more dominant teams I'll open with Stalagmites, close quickly and let loose with Thunderclap. Not much isn't stunned at that point as that's at least mag 5 stun accumulated and next up is Fissure (more stunning), Seismic Smash centering on a boss target. Outside of starting off with Stalagmites the rest isn't particularly in order. More a matter of what's going down with the mob, adds if any and what's off cooldown. I'm not a big Hurricane user. I usually have it but it takes practice to really become a good 'herdicane' user so it's either more ideal terrain or it's really gone to he'll. This is a very brief bit on my general approach. Any specific areas of concern?

As is First Ward (20-30) and Night Ward (30-35)