Arbegla

You're still ignoring the 5% tohit chance that softcapped defense leaves open vs the absolute immunity that Mez Protection provides.

I don't have access to the game (or City of Data 2.0) but the wiki doesn't show any DDR (Defense Debuff Resistance) being provided by Agility. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Agility_Radial_Paragon

A controller with softcapped Def is still vulnerable to -defense attacks, and cascading failures. They have zero DDR, and No way to get it. So, while its a durable build, its not pure immunity, and there is HUGE holes within the build that cause significant issues. While you are right that you can not perma RoP itself, you can perma the mez protection, but chaining RoP with Clarion, and/or the Melee Judgement will give you permanent Mez Protection, available to literally every single AT in the game. And that is what makes it really that simple.

Call me crazy, but I'm really beginning to think that out of the 5% of people who actually took Sorcery (for therefore RoP) 100% of them maxed out recharge to get near immunity to Mez Protection, via RoP and chaining other powers together. Completely negating an entire aspect of the game that they should have had to worry about. Which, was never the intention of how RoP should have been used. If your character doesn't have inherent Mez Protection, even from an Epic Power Pool, it shouldn't be able to get it via an Origin Power Pool that everyone can access. Squishies should have to worry about Mez. Its really that simple.

I mean, without the snark, there are TONS of passives that let you slot things that don't actually benefit them (Endurance Reduction, Recharge..) Its actually a perfectly Inclusive way to design powers for a game. Or do you want powers to very strictly follow ONLY the enhancements that benefit them? For example, slotting Acc in autohit powers, or Recharge in MM pet powers? Even from Double/Triple/Quad IOs.

I'll actually second this. If you do everything right as a MM, you're still burning 25% more endurance on your secondary, and you're still herding cats. And when you unleash those cats, they get stuck in long animation times, or get 1 shot by a random mobs blowing up (Lowbie MMs vs Embalmed Vahz is really fun, or the Paragon Protectors with Inferno...)

Nerf to Irradiated Ground confirmed.

I have a request for a deep dive, but its not a Dominator power.. It is however an AoE hold, so its kinda related? Poison Trap, from /Traps. What does it actually do, how long does the respective debuffs last for, and what are the chances for the irresistible vomit animation??

Now Frankenslot it with some Heal/End IOs, and see how nice it is. I really think Spirit Ward, as the toggle, can turn into a very nice 'I'm going to keep this pet/tank/squishy/hostage/NPC idiot' alive power. For Any AT 😄

Necro some more, but I'm a HUGE /traps Fan (I main a /Traps MM) and really the only different is defenders have better debuff numbers 😄 Having said that, so SOs only, I would go with a slotting like this with some explanation: Web Grenade: 1 ACC (maybe 1 End Reduct as well) -> The base recharge and immobilize duration is enough to lock down bosses, if you care, but with AR, you're just better off shooting them then trying to keep them in one spot. Its a little End heavy, so that's why I recommended the End Reduct, but its not really needed. As a defender you can skip this, and I definitely would recommend doing that. Caltrops: 3 Rech, 1 End Reduct -> Caltrops is actually perma right outta the box, with a 45 second duration, and a 45 second recharge. Its also autohit. And the 'fear' aspect of it is amazing. Having 3 Rech allows you to basically triple stack this, and create almost a trench of caltrops that mobs just won't want to cross in order to get to you. A good tactic is to drop Caltrops on your acid mortar, as it will deter mobs from wanting to attack it, and let your acid mortar do its thing. Triage Beacon: 2 Rech, 2 Heal -> Triage Beacon is a stationary +regen power, and with IOs it can be really nice, but on a team, you're really only going to use this once you get to a choke-point, or during Big Bad fights (EBs, AVs, etc) 2 Rech will keep it up often enough to use in those situations, and the extra +regen is like having a stationary Regeneration Aura (from Empathy) active. Acid Mortar: 3 Rech, 1 Acc, 2 Def Debuff -> This is your main form of damage multiplication for two reasons. 1) It stacks on itself if you get more then 1 out. 2) its an AoE. Slot this with 3 Rech, and you can pretty much have 2 out at any given time. This is great to drop in any group, even if you're steamroling, as the debuff lasts a long time, and the mortar itself is an AoE, so it can easily splash onto a whole group just as you drop it. It also makes a really good Ambush target, as mobs will go after the Acid Mortar's you've dropped before doing after your group. It does need to hit, but it only needs to hit once, as it reapplies the debuff every 6 seconds, (and it lasts for 20 seconds). And Like I said, multiple Acid Mortars stack their debuffs, so you can get some really nice -res going in Big Bad Fights. FFG -> 1 End Reduct, 3 Def Buff -> This lasts for 4 minutes, and recharges at base in about 10 seconds. You could drop the End reduct if you need slots in other things, as you're only going to be refreshing this every 4 minutes (and thus the overall endurance per second is VERY low already) Poison Trap: 3 Rech -> This is your EB/AV/GM killer. The hold aspect is just a bonus, so you don't really need to slot for it. Its an AoE, and has a 'vomit' animation that is triggered throughout the cloud that spawns from it, and its unresistible, mobs just spend like 3-4 seconds emptying their stomachs and can't do anything else. Its better than a hold. I personally use this as an opener after launching Seeker Drones to soak an alpha. This causes the Minions/Lts to be held/vomiting, and they have their -rech debuffed, which as the Seeker Drones soaked their opening volley, can really help you pick things off that can't actually fight back. It also has a really nice (like -1000%) regen debuff, which will floor any mobs regen with 1 application. Having this up as often as possible helps you take out big targets, have pseudo control over groups, and cause vomiting, which is just neat. Seeker Drones: 3 Rech 1 (or 2) tohit debuff -> These come in pairs, so slotting Acc isn't that important. They also stack their debuffs (because there are two of them) so against hard targets, you can floor somethings tohit, and stacking with your +def from FFG, you provide some decent protection for you and your team. A good use for these, as you place them (like you do the FFG) is to place them right in the the middle of a group you haven't yet aggroed. The mobs will target the Seeker Drones first, wasting their alpha strike, and then the Drones will explode, debuffing the whole group. As the mobs are busy targeting the Seeker Drones, you can run in and drop a Poison Trap or Acid Mortar, and either debuff the group further, or cause some holds to proc. As others have mentioned, Trip Mine, and Time Bomb aren't very useful, especially if you plan on grouping. Trip Mine does a lot of damage, but it can be interrupted. Time Bomb is a uninterruptible Trip Mine, with a wider radius, and a countdown timer on it (I think it explodes 10 seconds after you drop it, OR if its tripped) but in a group setting, its just not worth it to drop mines/bombs, and its better to just shoot things with your AR. I didn't slot much End Reduct, mainly because most of the traps are 'Fire and Forget' powers, and none of them are on a fast enough recharge to really have an impact on your end bar in the long haul. You could easily splash some End Reduct in any of them if you wanted, 1 SO is more than enough to help with endurance management if you need it. The rest of your build is really preference, but I hope this /Traps info is useful.

I mean, didn't Enflame not use procs very much at all before? So, this is more of a buff (even though its not a clone of the Rad Armor toggle..) the procs are at least working now.

I need to finish up and get my bot/traps to level 50 so I can check out my pylon DPS again. Its been a minute.

From a story angle, I wish the coming storm would've happened. Its been teased for well over 10 issues. From a 'What could it be that we'd actually care about?' angle, I'd like it be just a continual small effect thing. Maybe it builds up, maybe you have to run a TF to delay it, but its always there. We're stuck with it now, and we can decide if we care or not.

My mistake, I was thinking Weaken Resolve, but I called it Experimentation. You named it right. That's what I get for being on the forums at work.

Old RoP had a 600 second recharge, and 90 second duration. The absolute best you could get, at the recharge cap (400%), which is impossible to get without outside buffs is 1/5 of that time, so 120 seconds. Even a very heavy IO build can only squeeze about 300% recharge counting global recharge, and enhancement slotting, giving you roughly 150 seconds of recharge. Most places I've seen high end builds say between 160 and 150 seconds on recharge. With a 90 second duration, yes, at the recharge cap, you're sitting at 75% uptime. But at the highest IO build you can get, you're at ~150 seconds, giving you a 60% uptime. Now, you get the same power, with a 33% uptime, without any slotting. Before, without slotting you had a 15% uptime. (90 second duration, 600 second recharge) So, overall, this is a buff to base RoP, a buff to low to mid tier builds (as you still needed 222% recharge to get OLD RoP to have a 33% recharge, meaning 100% in enhancements, and still over 100% in global recharge) and a nerf to the VERY high end builds. The other powers getting turned into toggles actually helps the powers out more than it hurts them. You can slot enhancements in Spirit Ward, and being a toggle means you can now effectively permanently have an absorb shield on someone, which refreshes constantly. I'm not sure why you're so upset over an overall BUFF to the entire power pool.

When you say testing in RWZ, do you mean on the target dummies? with a power analyzer?

Pets die when you're sidekicked/Exemplared/flashbacking and have always died that way. Do the Ouro Pilgrim mission on either side as a MM, and your pets will die at least twice, possibly even four times. Its annoying, but I understand why they did it.

While I can understand the want for additional aggro caps, 1 or 2 stray mobs isn't going to murder a squishy. Usually the 'tank' is focused on the boss/EB/AV/GM or whatever big bad is out there, and if he can't grab everything, that's probably ok, because a minion or LT isn't going to last that long, even if it does target a squishy. Masterminds already break the aggro cap, in a pretty massive way. ALL of the pets ignore aggro caps, which was added to compensate for the iTrials, so if you have a mastermind on the team, especially one with provoke, you can basically an unlimited aggro tank, as any aggro the MM gets the pets can shed off, and while they might not be able to hold it forever, they can hold it enough to protect a squishy.

Didn't Shockwave get an animation change so now its much faster, and therefore worthwhile to put even in the single target attack chain? With the KB->KD proc, its really good mitigation too.

No true actually. If you're mid-way through the arc, you can complete the arc even if you out level it. The mobs may or may not spawn at your level, but you will still get the rewards merits for finishing it. As long as you have the 'story book' attached to the contact, you can finish their arc anytime.

It'll be more efficient to use Villian (or even Gold side) missions for some of the badges. I think the guide needs to be updated honestly, as some of the praetorian missions are MUCH faster then the H or V side options.

There are also binds you can make to feed your pets Inspirations, also, the Hero Alignment Power is like a mini-Build Up for your whole team. Bots/FF is just hard to boost damage on, mainly because /FF doesn't have very much offensive power. Depending on what Power Pools you took, you could get some debuffs going, and then use those as well. (Experimentation has a single target debuff in it, that you can proc out to make pretty nice)

That makes sense, I wasn't sure how the existing enhancements would be affected. Changing the level ranges seems like the best fix, and it gives more options for frankenslotting for lowbies.

Would changing the attuned from a minimum to an average help be a temp fix?

Reserve Power is Soul Transfer? Super Stunner Self Rez power has the wrong description.