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Empyrean Merits can be converted into Rare or Very Rare incarnate components, which you need to craft a tier 3 and a tier 4 incarnate ability - unless you happen to have the specific rare/very rare component you need. Alternatively, 1 Empyrean merit can be converted into 20 incarnate threads. Best of all, Empyrean merits can be mailed to your own alts - most of the other incarnate compoents are character-bound. tl;dr Empyrean merits are extremely useful, because they can be used as substitutes for the other things you need to create your incarnate abilities.

Convenience. I used BP early on, but changed to Storm or Polar on all chars, because (a) the BP pets take up a lot of screenspace and are annoyingly noisy with that stomping sound, and (b) having a pet that can fly is useful against flying enemies.

Nice! Thanks a ton for the feedback, @oldskool and @Omega Force. I had dialled down my expectations to /regen already, but it seems I was still being too optimistic :) With the feedback you both gave, I can get a bit more out of my ice/regen - and now I also know what to expect, and that will help me enjoy this AT/combo more. My senti is quite fun to play - at lvl 20 so far - so I just need to understand what it plays like, instead of trying to shoehorn it into the same playstyle as the other, more common ATs. Thank you both 👍

Months ago I decided to try a sentinel, and having never played with the Regen powerset on any AT this seemed like a good time to try it. Tried to find the best-possible ice/regen build here on the forum, but the only ones I could find were budget-ish builds. Not that there is anything wrong with building on a budget, but for this character I am willing to spend as much as it takes to get the best possible character. So I tried to make a high-end ice/regen build myself, and the result is that... well, apparently I suck at creating sentinel builds. 😞 Can any of you more-skilled-than-me players here in this forum please take a look at this build and suggest where it can be improved? The defense in particular is awful. A couple of design notes: - This character is mainly for soloing, in case that makes a difference. - Travel power should be Flight. - Needs to be usable for exemping down, so no incarnate powers included in the build. Many thanks in advance! | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1495;719;1438;HEX;| |78DA6594494F136118C7DFA153B19402B58552A114CA520A7468593C6AA22C4120D| |656F1D84CCA6B1953DBA6E5A0DEFC0A5E3CC8D9848B17D0F8215C6F2EB81C34B881| |267AC1AD3E33FFC742D2493BBF99E7FD3FDBBBCCE295A9C63BB3D74F08A5E9544E2| |F97D329995F35F232675FD4B34646D0E59CD5CB855251BF46B77A7AF7FF97A4937A| |3E2B97B5B98C4C9F24E7D54075644A5E94F9B2D492322BF3B2A4AF1A85BC70250A8| |59C3663645748946DB0DE524529979BADC705A92FCB5279C5283A21CC994AFF74D1| |C868D5C089B2915EA454B274B59D6A19A4FF5E58F055B18B67AA107155D43D67BE0| |0D597CC2DF0D02B306906502C5F9BF860C3D847F0F019059C077F86594A5A658B34| |215534BC66BE011BDF82E728AE0D7115DBCD3ACBBFE906F88BE2D8B95EFB53D4D1F| |4006C79C87C041E79CC7C02A6286E3D7C95FA002508A8C2EB07CFD3980339ED8E1D| |F4E0E59EDAB8A7B62F60FB27E667F00FD5E4E49A9CF785653BBAC1DC043BEF32EF8| |15DB791F737F9BAE02B5CEBE871896A69462DA2F938747F49E7E61CEE38745D2336| |26DEBBA34C8D19032F503C0FE2A99E1EF8F474333B995D606F105468A25A79BD5A1| |3C25A97DEB3CC24D897026DA4F5717CDF18FCFB7CA8BB8FE7776012FB6080E75D25| |1F3FEF1D7F2B8F79C1F077C408EF821B11213A58DBC1FE618E1BD98326F2030C51D| |C00AF716018731D619A1B3EC873183C86B9191A638E3327C09149E636E26E520D21| |5EA790198F72BB29573FEFD37EEE61847B7817C1F932F58315BAC47BB20C73F6E16| |9448DCE214BF432BCA23ABA1A5D235998C82BECA04C1A77A571A6D1798C6D53DC18| |AF548CC7E26EE61AC5F7106F819D6AF5B4D3CFACEA52C43CC3E689AA54866A46633| |596788D65BCC63251635950AB5F0A3A6675D6AE49A8D52F82502C95A385CE3D2C95| |9D061A650F258A7DF675DFA6284BE8B0F1B462CDD4EE41FD20F4DF0EDAF83B32EF2| |1708EF5D0FEF38C6FFFF91F0F61F0A4| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

If you are playing on a subpar computer, keep in mind that playing at +4/*8 (or really, +anything/*8) will put a lot of enemies on your screen and a lot of visual effects from their powers, which your PC might struggle to handle. It is for this reason that I personally avoid soloing against large numbers of enemies on squishy characters, because if my screen freezes up for 4-5 seconds due to graphics overload, that can sometimes be enough for a blaster/controller/etc. to get slaughtered. Less of a problem on melee characters and/or when playing a squishy on a team.

Any suggestions on how to make a bear head in the CoH costume creator? I know there is not a costume part named Bear Head per se, but I think I have seen characters in-game which looked like bears, so presumably people have combined some of the other costume parts to make something bear-like. Many thanks in advance. And yes, the reason I ask is that this thread inspired me...

The right incarnate powers for your nova- and your human form probably won't be the same as for your dwarf form. In nova form, I use: Alpha: Musculature Judgment: Ion (<-- I always use Ion on squishies) Interface: As a wise man once said, Degenerative/Reactive or bust Lore: Storm Elementals, because I don't like the stomping noise of the BP pets. Generally I would say pick Lore pets for theme, they are all pretty good. Destiny: Barrier, because the upfront def/res boni are good for "oh snap!" situations and the longer, lower def/res boni are enough to make a noticeable difference Hybrid: Assault. But most of the time I forget to toggle hybrid on anyway. In dwarf form, I use: Alpha: Agility, for both the +Rech boost and the EndMod Judgment: Void (<-- I always use Void on melees) Interface: Stop me if you've heard this one before, but: Degenerative/Reactive or bust Lore: Storm Elementals, as per above Destiny: Barrier, for the same reasons as above Hybrid: Melee. Although I am beginning to wonder whether Assault would be better, even for a tank. My PB build uses only nova and dwarf form, not human.

This is a key point IMO. Here is a idea to possibly resolve it: On all story arcs regardless of red, blue or gold, you cannot outlevel an arc once you have started it. I.e. when the arc's contact has that little book icon next to their name. If we can be similarly locked into one of the Praetorian story lines (Power, Responsibility, Warden, Crusader), then we would be able to complete that story line even if we also level up via teaming or TF's.

@JJDrakken , can I trouble you for an ice/regen sentinel build, please? Thanks.

10.5 bn. That's a whole lot of money. How many kilograms of money is that, according to Ron Swanson? This contest has been fun to follow - thanks for the entertainment, @Yomo Kimyata. And conga rats to @Midnight Blue Mage

Yes!

For Destiny, I pretty much always end up with Barrier. All the Destiny abilities are situational, but Barrier just seems to have more possible use-cases. In fact, even in an oh-sh*t situation like you mentioned, I personally think it is more beneficial to get a few seconds of megaboost to Def and Res, allowing you time to cut and run if needed, than to get a one-time heal. YMMV etc. For Judgement, I like the idea of a cone attack to go with a cone-heavy build like dark/.

Now I want that as my badge title.

Sorry, I forgot that there is more than one power with the word Incandescence in it. No, I was referring to https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=peacebringer_defensive.luminous_aura.incandescence&at=peacebringer <-- the first power in the PB secondary powerset. The power's description says "This Auto power is always on and costs no Endurance.", but from what I can tell, it does not provide its very nice eng/negeng resistance buff while in nova or dwarf. I wonder if this is a new thing or it was always meant to work that way and I just never noticed before. For reference, I have a lvl 50 PB which I have not played in months but recently took out of mothballs and respecced to play only in Nova and Dwarf form, not in Human form. Not that this is pertinent to my question above, really, just thought I would mention it.

The setup @Carnifax showed is a smart and versatile way to lay it out. If you prefer something simpler, but at the cost of versatility, you can use a bind like /bind 8 PowExecLocation Self Blizzard and then place the Blizzard power button in the 8 slot of your power bar (and similar for the other powers). That way, hitting the 8 key will acticate the power just like normal, and you can see when it is recharged. The tricky bit is that if you ever decide to change your powers layout and put something else in the 8 slot, you will need to change the bind. Hence the loss of versatility. Still, it is another possibility.

Incandescence used to work while in nova or dwarf form, didn't it? Or did I dream that?

WOOHOO! Time for the classic "Me? Little old me?! But, but, but, I never win anything!" speech. Which I totally haven't practiced in front of the mirror for days... 😉 Seriously, though - thanks a ton for this, @Yomo Kimyata. Your timing is brilliant, I have a couple of new build ideas I want to try but didn't have the inf to pay for them. Forum PM sent just now. The build I use is below. Only ranged attacks, per my personal preference. FWIW this build cost me ~350 million. 90% of the time my attack rotation is just Umbral Torrent, Moonbeam and Life Drain. Everything else is situational. Originally I had this kooky idea that Abyssal Gaze and Positron Cell could be useful for the Hami part of LGTF but have never gotten around to trying it. My own dark/atomic is full t4 incarnate, those of you who play on Reunion might recognize the name from the casual Friday iTrials. I have that same snob bias as yourself re. the very popular powersets, so it feels good to have my view validated. 😄 Thanks again and have fun with your new blaster! Franz Schlechtnacht - Blaster (Dark Blast).mxd

OK, maybe "tool" was an overstatement 🙂 I was referring to the LFG queue thingie which is located between the words "Email" and "Tab" on your menu bar. "Tool" was intended to distinguish it from the in-game chat channel which is also named LFG.

Dark/Atomic blaster. ToHit debuffs galore, and your most often used AoE power has a KB component (which you will convert to KD with an IO, of course), which is helpful for both soloing and teams. Thematic logic: Both powersets have a fairly similar animation style, so you look the same whether you are using primary or secondary powers. Might not make a difference to you, but to me the visual cohesiveness of the primary and secondary are a big deal. Depending on color scheme you can make them look like all-water powers, all-dark, or all-radiation powers, or any number of other things. Personally I wanted a radiation concept but don't like the radiation blast powerset, so the dark/atomic is my pretend-radiation guy. It exemps nicely, at level 30 you are only missing your Nova and your epics. Mine is full t4 incarnate, but plays about the same on a Penny Yin as on a Keyes trial (OK, slight exaggeration 😃). Quick-animating powers, which should be helpful when transitioning from a melee-centric playstyle to a ranged one. If need be I can post my own build.

This would be brilliant and a definite improvement. But probably too late in the game's life to make a difference - at this point we are all so used to forming teams manually via the LFG channel rather than with the LFG menu tool, that we will continue to use the channel even if the tool gets improved.

Wait, what? Isn't that the purpose of these forums - to dictate how other people should play the game and to yell at the devs that they must hardcode the game so that everyone plays the way each poster wants them to? 😄

One advantage that NW has over stalker (I semi-mained an ice/nrg stalker before becoming a convert to the Cult of Widows) is that they get most of their important attacks early on, so they exemp really well. If playing lower-level content is a priority for the OP, that is a point in the widow's favor.

The simplest way to mitigate psi/toxic damage is to make a habit of scouting the enemy group before attacking, and then selecting the psi- and toxic damage dealers as the first ones you kill. Similar to how you prioritize sappers when fighting Malta, or surgeons in Cimerora, etc. Yes, you can plug a psi or a toxic gap in your damage mitigation, and for a truly high-end build you will want to. But for most of us mere mortals, that kind of optimizing requires some tough choices in terms of what you have to sacrifices in your build to make room for the anti-psi/toxic IO's. Which means your character will be a bit less powerful all the times you fight non-Arachnos enemy groups.

Our SG has a recurring event called Bring Out Yer Dead, where people can take one of their long-abandoned characters out for a spin. It works well - you either get reminded of how good the character is or you get a brief, nostalgic enjoyment of the character before placing it back into mothballs. Well, that or you get confirmed in your earlier decision to shelve that character. Either way, something good comes out of it, and you have Fun With Friends(tm) as a significant side benefit.

+1 to this (bolded text my emphasis)