Rylas

Protector v Interceptor Protector definitely sounds more interesting to me. I like the idea of charging up with attacks to provide stronger buffs. A good incentive to make use of both primary and secondary. Bastion v Bulwark: Gonna go with Bastion since the Reinforcement mechanic for Bulwarks seems like it would be all or nothing for primary/secondary performance. And it seems counterintuitive to ever decrease an ATs primary ability.

I am both grateful for this information and embarrassed for never having noticed it. Thank you.

Currently, I'm having more trouble getting enough threads for crafting my T4's. I'm not against converting them to Emps, though instead of the influence cost Auroxis mentioned, maybe just require more threads than you get from breaking down an Emp. An influence cost seems overkill when it still requires time to accrue threads. Additionally, I'd love to be able to convert shards to threads. They're practically useless and I'm not much of a fan holding on to salvage I can't do anything with.

Any two T3s can combine to make either T4. You don't need to restart anything.

Ice/, which is already a pretty strong set, can certainly be made even tougher with IOs. If end game is where you're having issues, I might suggest aiming to hit 59% defense for S/L/E/N with one use of a full Energy Absorption. It shouldn't take much investment, and that way you're soft-capped for Incarnate content. After that, aim for as much S/L and Fire resists as you can work in and any Psi (not so easy) as well. Sprinkling on recharge where you can after that. I'm at work, so I can't pull up Pine's to slap together any recommendations, but I would strongly suggest getting comfortable with Pines just because you're more likely to do better with a tool you know. Also, not knowing your secondary, I wouldn't be able to begin. I'd recommend this Resource for set bonuses. It's a pretty handy one if you find Pine's a bit difficult to sort through.

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to... RUN YOUR OWN SERVER! But it sounds way to troublesome for Homecoming.

Wow! That's some great maths there. I would also prefer option 1. I'd even be ok if the damage bump for TF wasn't as much, but only if that was the only way to have ET improved. Thanks for taking the time to look into that.

Well, by default, less HP means you're regenerating it at a lower number.

It certainly gets a leg up on more defense, but I gotta say, all that slow resist can be pretty fun on /Ice.

Ah, I misunderstood what you were trying to say then. I was just saying you can get the sound by at least changing the body type.

Oh the eternal question; Can a brute have Ice Armor? When?! When will we ever get an answer!? If only there was some easy way to tell, like in character creation or something. But in all seriousness, yes, you can get Ice Armor on a brute.

There is. Icon store. Cosmetic surgeon (not the usual Icon employee). You can change body type there.

Would -HP still be more effective than the -Health Debuff procs? That is to say, damage procs.

I think the Taunt is determined by the powerset. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure if you had Psi Melee, you're taunt would always be the Psi animation of taunting. I'm assuming every powerset has its designated taunt.

I can understand the limits of having less game time to earn up extra inf. But even casual gaming can still make great influence. Check the guides section, there's plenty of ways to earn up inf fast while leveling. Since you want to "respec" into new a new powerset, then you can basically roll a new character and strip the old one of all the items and inf they have. This will already be a boost to your new toon. As you level, I would suggest running DFBs to level 15. Then start running TFs. Posi 1&2 should put you at the minimum level for Synapse, escpecially if you're using any XP boosts. You can do all the Task Force Commander TFs in a row pretty much. Run radios or arcs to fill in level gaps if you have to. Take all those merits you've earned and maximize them for profit. It really isn't that hard. But before you do any of that, maybe roll that toon up on the test server and make sure you'll be happy with what you want to switch to.

Since you can get 0–2 ATOs per pack, it's possible to sell what you get from them and buy more. And if you happen to catch a Windfall from a pack, jump in a farm with it and sell the drops you get from that. It's also possible to get merits and converters out of those as well. I've piled up a few converters to turn some enhancements into better selling items. It's not a bad way to earn up for what you need.

My only frustration with ATOs from Super Packs is that they *feel* terribly weighted. Of the dozens of packs I've bought, I've only received 1 Brute ATO while I've gotten plenty of Controller and Dominator ATOs. Just RNG, but ugh.

Stalkers just don't appeal to my play style. But good to know EM is treated as the red-headed step child over there, too. :(

I have two Rad/ brutes, and the set is a solidly fun set. Never felt that excited with the Kin/ I had on live, and Elec/ was fun. But I didn't want EM because of the pom pom's of doom (as cool as they looked and all). I liked the set because of the niche it had as the boss killer. It filled a good spot on teams. Most everyone's melting whole groups away at a time, and I enjoyed killing the boss while they cleared the rest. Fast. Powerful. And with a specific role to fill. It was good like that. Now it's just... there.

I've currently shelved my re-rolled main from Live. Made it to 32 and decided to wait until EM is rebalanced to (hopefully) what it used to be. That time may never come to pass, but he's just not that fun to play as is.

How about an alternate version of AP called Atlas Park Hunt. It wouldn't have a Ms Liberty or a P2W vendor. It would only be accessible by train or base portal (and maybe Ouro portal), so that new characters can't enter the game there. Then people can go when they have hunt missions and the occasionally frustrating tip mission.

However, it doesn't have self-stacking -resist debuffs - which is why it amplifies damage much less than some other sets do. *cough* Rad/Sonic *cough*

I have both a Rad/Bio and a Rad/Fire brute. Both do incredibly well and both have great synergy. Rad/Bio teams up to great debuffs: -def and -res. Rad/Fire is just lots of AoE fun. /Elec sounds like a good pairing since you can replinish endurance, but I would imagine /Dark might be a bit too much of an end hog to go with Rad/.

If you want to have tier 4 incarnate abilities (or just tier 3), I would recommend leaving XP on and doing what trials you can. WIth the random salvage drops you're bound to get a rare/very rare piece at some point which will do quite a bit towards shortening the path. Once you have what you want, turn of XP and make mad bank.

I think Ice is meant to have a fire weakness, just as Fire has a cold weakness, Dark has an Energy weakness and Energy has an Neg Energy weakness. How would one justify buffing Ice's fire resists? Also, it may not be the most popular power on the set, but some people do like taking Hibernate. Taking that away from them doesn't seem like a great way to fix inefficiencies.